alarm
fear resulting from the awareness of danger
How often you will meet it
Rank 2,002 of 71,295 words measured. It occurs 8,972 times across 155,370 chapters — 0.004% of every word in the library.
What it means
noun
- fear resulting from the awareness of danger also: dismay, consternation
- a device that signals the occurrence of some undesirable event also: warning device, alarm system
- an automatic signal (usually a sound) warning of danger also: alert, warning signal, alarum
- a clock that wakes a sleeper at some preset time also: alarm clock
verb
- fill with apprehension or alarm; cause to be unpleasantly surprised also: dismay, appal, appall, horrify I was horrified at the thought of being late for my interviewThe news of the executions horrified us
- warn or arouse to a sense of danger or call to a state of preparedness also: alert The empty house alarmed himWe alerted the new neighbors to the high rate of burglaries
alarm in real books
Each sentence below was written by a published author and is taken from a different book in our library. Open one to read the passage it came from, with narration.
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Then the soldier gave the alarm; his comrades woke up.
The Countess of Saint Geran Celebrated Crimes · Alexandre Dumas · Chapter 1
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Must no Dislike alarm, no Wishes rise, No Cries attempt the Mercies of the Skies?
The Vanity of Human Wishes (1749) and Two · Samuel Johnson · Chapter 1
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She would be frightened; she would approve all; and, at the first alarm, she would confess all.
Other People's Money · Emile Gaboriau · Chapter 1
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The Battle of our Life is brief The alarm,--the struggle,--the relief, Then sleep we side by side.
The Complete Poetical Works of Henry · Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Chapter 1
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His train, with quick alarm, Curved with their leader round The ant-hill's peopled mound, And left it free from harm.
Pennsylvania Pilgrim, and other poems Part 6 From — Volume I · John Greenleaf Whittier · Chapter 1