qui vive

1. 1.

   condition of heightened watchfulness or preparation for action

   “bombers were put on alert during the crisis”

   Synonymsalert

   Broaderreadiness

   Narrowerair alertred alertstrip alert

Questions about qui vive

What does qui vive mean?

qui vive means "condition of heightened watchfulness or preparation for action".

What is another word for qui vive?

Close synonyms include 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 qui vive a common word?

qui vive is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.