What does alarm mean?

alarm means "fear resulting from the awareness of danger". That is the primary sense; the word has 6 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in alarm?

alarm has 2 syllables: a-larm. The stress falls on "larm". In IPA it is /əˈlɑɹm/.

What is another word for alarm?

Close synonyms include dismay, consternation, warning device, alarm system, alert. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is alarm a common word?

alarm is banded "Core" — among the few thousand words that carry most english. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

alarm — meaning, pronunciation and 6 definitions

noun

4 sensesA person, place, thing, quality or idea.

1.
fear resulting from the awareness of danger
Synonymsdismay consternation
Broaderfear
2.
a device that signals the occurrence of some undesirable event
Synonymswarning device alarm system
Broaderdevice
Narrowerautomobile horn burglar alarm fire alarm horn siren
3.
an automatic signal (usually a sound) warning of danger
Synonymsalert warning signal alarum
Broadersignal
Narrowertorpedo air alert burglar alarm fire alarm foghorn horn red flag siren tocsin
4.
a clock that wakes a sleeper at some preset time
Synonymsalarm clock
Broaderclock

verb

2 sensesAn action, occurrence or state of being.

1.
fill with apprehension or alarm; cause to be unpleasantly surprised
“I was horrified at the thought of being late for my interview”
“The news of the executions horrified us”
Synonymsdismay appal appall horrify
Broaderfrighten
Narrowershock
2.
warn or arouse to a sense of danger or call to a state of preparedness
“The empty house alarmed him”
“We alerted the new neighbors to the high rate of burglaries”
Synonymsalert
Broaderwarn
Narrowerwake

Other forms of alarm

plural: alarms·
past tense: alarmed·
present participle: alarming·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about alarm

What does alarm mean?: alarm means "fear resulting from the awareness of danger". That is the primary sense; the word has 6 in total, listed in full on this page.
How many syllables are in alarm?: alarm has 2 syllables: a-larm. The stress falls on "larm". In IPA it is /əˈlɑɹm/.
What is another word for alarm?: Close synonyms include dismay, consternation, warning device, alarm system, alert. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.
Is alarm a common word?: alarm is banded "Core" — among the few thousand words that carry most english. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for alarm come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.

noun

4 sensesA person, place, thing, quality or idea.

1.
fear resulting from the awareness of danger
Synonymsdismay consternation
Broaderfear
2.
a device that signals the occurrence of some undesirable event
Synonymswarning device alarm system
Broaderdevice
Narrowerautomobile horn burglar alarm fire alarm horn siren
3.
an automatic signal (usually a sound) warning of danger
Synonymsalert warning signal alarum
Broadersignal
Narrowertorpedo air alert burglar alarm fire alarm foghorn horn red flag siren tocsin
4.
a clock that wakes a sleeper at some preset time
Synonymsalarm clock
Broaderclock

verb

2 sensesAn action, occurrence or state of being.

1.
fill with apprehension or alarm; cause to be unpleasantly surprised
“I was horrified at the thought of being late for my interview”
“The news of the executions horrified us”
Synonymsdismay appal appall horrify
Broaderfrighten
Narrowershock
2.
warn or arouse to a sense of danger or call to a state of preparedness
“The empty house alarmed him”
“We alerted the new neighbors to the high rate of burglaries”
Synonymsalert
Broaderwarn
Narrowerwake

Other forms of alarm

plural: alarms·
past tense: alarmed·
present participle: alarming·

Questions about alarm

What does alarm mean?: alarm means "fear resulting from the awareness of danger". That is the primary sense; the word has 6 in total, listed in full on this page.
How many syllables are in alarm?: alarm has 2 syllables: a-larm. The stress falls on "larm". In IPA it is /əˈlɑɹm/.
What is another word for alarm?: Close synonyms include dismay, consternation, warning device, alarm system, alert. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.
Is alarm a common word?: alarm is banded "Core" — among the few thousand words that carry most english. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

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alarm

noun

verb

Other forms of alarm

Questions about alarm

Tools

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PDF & writing

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alarm

noun

verb

Other forms of alarm

Questions about alarm