Showing results for "warning"

• present participle of warn.

warning

American  

[wawr-ning] / ˈwɔr nɪŋ /

noun

• warnings
  plural

1. 

   the act or utterance of one who warns or the existence, appearance, sound, etc., of a thing that warns.

2. something that serves to warn, give notice, or caution.

   We fired a warning at the intruders.

   Synonyms:

   presage, augury, portent, sign, omen, advice, admonition, caution

3. Meteorology. an announcement from the U.S. National Weather Service alerting the public that a storm or other weather-related hazard is imminent and that immediate steps should be taken to protect lives and property.

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adjective

1. serving to warn, advise, caution.

   a warning bell.

warning British  

/ ˈwɔːnɪŋ /

noun

1. a hint, intimation, threat, etc, of harm or danger

2. advice to beware or desist

3. an archaic word for notice

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adjective

1. (prenominal) intended or serving to warn

   a warning look

2. (of the coloration of certain distasteful or poisonous animals) having conspicuous markings, which predators recognize and learn to avoid; aposematic

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• warningly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• warnings
  plural

Etymology

Origin of warning

First recorded before 900; Middle English (noun); Old English war(e)nung “precaution”; see warn, -ing ¹, -ing ²

Explanation

A warning is a caution against something dangerous. When there's a shark warning at the beach, the lifeguards will order everyone out of the water. When you receive a warning, you get an official advance notice of some impending problem. A crow might caw loudly as a warning when it sees a cat, and a traffic cop might give a first-time speeder a warning instead of an expensive ticket. You can also use warning as an adjective: "The warning light came on in her car as it started to overheat."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

warning warnings

The team argues that this same approach can also serve as a kind of "early warning system."

From Science Daily ● Sep. 27, 2026

After the report, Constellation hosted a happy hour in San Francisco titled “Was the Hugging Face attack the last warning shot?”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026

While the colourful displays may encourage people to learn more about fungi, experts are warning against assuming wild mushrooms are safe to eat.

From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026

For now, China generally seems less alarmed by the types of risks U.S. frontier labs are warning about, Winter-Levy said, but that is partly due to Chinese companies running behind.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 26, 2026

When she pointed out Parker, it was with a warning.

From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Europe needs to view artificial intelligence with more optimism -- despite growing warnings about its dangers -- or risk falling further behind, the head of a leading European AI start-up warned.

From Barron's ● Sep. 27, 2026

But the SEC’s warnings illustrate why the identity of the person standing onstage can matter so much.

From Salon ● Sep. 26, 2026

Chancellor John Healey is due to give his first Budget on 28 October, but faces rising debt costs and warnings of slower economic growth.

From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026

The Danish alert follows multiple recent warnings from top European officials.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026

The chill of Mrs. Fairfax’s warnings, and the damp of her doubts were upon me: something of unsubstantiality and uncertainty had beset my hopes.

From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë

Related Words

• admonition
• advice
• alarm
• alert
• caution
• example
• guidance
• hint
• indication
• information
• lesson
• notification
• prediction
• recommendation
• sign
• signal
• suggestion
• threat
• word