alert

1. 1.

   engaged in or accustomed to close observation

   “caught by a couple of alert cops”

   “alert enough to spot the opportunity when it came”

   “constantly alert and vigilant, like a sentinel on duty”

   Synonymswatchful

   Antonymsunalert

   Similarargus-eyedflyheads-uplidless
2. 2.

   quick and energetic

   “a brisk walk in the park”

   “a lively gait”

   “a merry chase”

   “traveling at a rattling rate”

   “a snappy pace”

   “a spanking breeze”

   Synonymsbrisklivelymerryrattlingsnappyspankingzippy

   Similarenergetic
3. 3.

   mentally perceptive and responsive

   “an alert mind”

   “alert to the problems”

   “alive to what is going on”

   “awake to the dangers of her situation”

   “was now awake to the reality of his predicament”

   Synonymsaliveawake

   Similaraware

1. 1.

   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”

   Synonymsalarm

   Broaderwarn

   Narrowerwake

Other forms of alert

plural

alerts·

past tense

alerted·

present participle

alerting·

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 alert

What does alert mean?

alert means "condition of heightened watchfulness or preparation for action". That is the primary sense; the word has 7 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in alert?

alert has 2 syllables: a-lert. The stress falls on "lert". In IPA it is /əˈlɝt/.

What is another word for alert?

Close synonyms include qui vive, alerting, alarm, warning signal, alarum. 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.

What is the opposite of alert?

The recorded antonyms are unalert.

Is alert a common word?

alert is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.