alarming

American  

[uh-lahr-ming] / əˈlɑr mɪŋ /

adjective

1. causing alarm or fear.

   an alarming case of pneumonia; an alarming lack of respect.

---

Other Word Forms

• alarmingly adverb
• unalarming adjective
• unalarmingly adverb

Etymology

Origin of alarming

First recorded in 1670–80; alarm + -ing ²

Example Sentences

But on 6 August last year, 999 operators received a strange and alarming call from the boy - who said he had decided to confess after being unable to escape his back garden.

From BBC

While these figures may look alarming, they are still far below the levels seen during the last housing crisis.

From MarketWatch

What makes Scout alarming to dealers is the company’s connection to Volkswagen.

From The Wall Street Journal

"The scale is truly alarming and this war has made it impossible to ignore now," says Timothy Graham, a digital media expert at the Queensland University of Technology.

From BBC

While essentially a disaster film, the visually alarming and nerve-racking “Fukushima” is also a cross-cultural psychodrama, about an industry, and perhaps a society, having a meltdown all its own.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• dangerous
• disquieting
• distressing
• disturbing
• frightening
• startling