alarm

• alarum

From Middle English alarme, alarom, borrowed from Middle French alarme, itself from Old Italian all'arme! (“to arms!, to the weapons!”), ultimately from Latin arma (“arms, weapons”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əˈlɑːm/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /əˈlɑɹm/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (Indic) IPA^(key): /əˈlɑ(ɾə)m/
• Hyphenation: alarm
• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)m

alarm (countable and uncountable, plural alarms)

1. A summons to arms, as on the approach of an enemy.
   • c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:

     Arming to answer in a night alarm.

2. Any sound or information intended to give notice of approaching danger; a warning sound to arouse attention; a warning of danger.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Joel 2:1:

     Sound an alarm in my holy mountain.

   • 1859, Charles Dickens, The Haunted House:

     She went about the house in a state of real terror, and yet lied monstrously and wilfully, and invented many of the alarms she spread, and made many of the sounds we heard.

3. A device intended to warn or give notice of approaching danger.

   The fire alarm is located high on the wall to prevent tampering.

4. A sudden attack; a disturbance.
   • 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

     Lord Marshal, command our officers-at-arms
     Be ready to direct these home alarms.

   • 1725, Homer, “Book I”, in [Elijah Fenton], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume I, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC, page III:

     Is it then true, as distant rumours run,
     that crowds of rivals for thy mother's charms
     thy Palace fill with insults and alarms?

5. Sudden surprise with fear or terror excited by apprehension of danger; in the military use, commonly, sudden apprehension of being attacked by surprise.
   • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter I, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:

     Alarm and resentment spread through the camp.

6. A mechanical device for awaking people, or rousing their attention.

   The clock radio is a friendlier version of the cold alarm by the bedside.

7. An instance of an alarm ringing, beeping or clanging, to give a noise signal at a certain time.

   You should set the alarm on your watch to go off at seven o'clock.

• tocsin

alarm (third-person singular simple present alarms, present participle alarming, simple past and past participle alarmed)

1. (transitive) To call to arms for defense.
2. (transitive) To give (someone) notice of approaching danger or necessary action; to rouse to vigilance; to put on the alert.

   The sudden drop in temperature should alarm you into taking precautions.

   Her illness started to alarm the doctors, who ordered more tests.

   • 1838, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Passage in the Secret History of an Irish Countess:

     When the carriage drew up in the grass-grown court yard before the hall-door, two lazy-looking men, whose appearance well accorded with that of the place which they tenanted, alarmed by the obstreperous barking of a great chained dog, ran out from some half-ruinous out-houses, and took charge of the horses; […]

3. (transitive, of a device) To produce a warning of approaching danger or necessary action; to emit a signal intended to rouse a recipient to vigilance or put them on the alert.
   • 1985 March 21, National Transportation Safety Board, “2.2 Environmental Factors”, in Aircraft Accident Report: United Airlines Flight 663, Boeing 727-222, N7647U, Denver, Colorado, May 31, 1984‎^[1], page 39:

     The tower cab supervisor and various pilots stated that the LLWAS system frequently alarms because of the thunderstorm activity present, and that airspeed losses are common as a result of convective wind shear.

4. (transitive) To surprise with apprehension of danger; to fill with anxiety in regard to threatening evil; to excite with sudden fear.

   The loud bang in the hallway seemed to alarm everyone in the building.

5. (transitive) To keep in excitement; to disturb.

• “alarm”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

• LRAAM, Lamar, Marla, malar, marla, ramal

From French alarme (“alarm”).

• IPA^(key): /alaɾm/

alárm m (plural alárme, definite alármi, definite plural alármet)

1. (military) alarm

   Synonym: kushtrim

2. (figurative) anxiety

   Synonym: shqetësim

• Oda Buchholz, Wilfried Fiedler, Gerda Uhlisch (2000), Langenscheidt Handwörterbuch Albanisch, Langenscheidt Verlag, →ISBN, page 32 (noun alárm/alarm)
• [2] m. noun alárm/alarm (engl. alarm) • Fjalor Shqip (Albanian Dictionary)

• IPA^(key): [ˈalarm]

alarm m inan

1. alarm

• “alarm”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “alarm”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “alarm”, in Akademický slovník cizích slov at prirucka.ujc.cas.cz [Academic dictionary of foreign words] (in Czech), 1995

alarm c (singular definite alarmen, plural indefinite alarmer)

1. alarm

• brandalarm

• “alarm” in Den Danske Ordbog

Ultimately from Italian all' arme (“to arms”), allarme; compare also French alarme. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

• IPA^(key): /aːˈlɑrm/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: alarm
• Rhymes: -ɑrm

alarm n (plural alarmen, diminutive alarmpje n)

1. alarm

• alarmeren

• Negerhollands: allarm, alarm
• → Indonesian: alarm

• Almar

Internationalism, borrowed from Dutch alarm.

• IPA^(key): /ˈalarm/, [alarə̆m]
• Hyphenation: alarm
• Rhymes: -m

alarm (plural alarm-alarm)

1. alarm

   Synonyms: beker, weker

• penggera (Standard Malay)

• “alarm”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Internationalism; possibly borrowed from Polish alarm or German Alarm. Ultimately from Italian allarme (“to arms”). Doublet of larm. Compare Slovincian alarm.

• IPA^(key): /ˈa.larm/
• Rhymes: -alarm
• Syllabification: a‧larm

alarm m inan

1. alarm (device used to alarm people)

   Synonym: alert

2. alarm (sound used to alarm people)

   Synonym: alert

3. alarm (state of being alerted)

• Stefan Ramułt (1993) [1893], “alarm”, in Jerzy Trepczyk, editor, Słownik języka pomorskiego czyli kaszubskiego (in Kashubian), 3 edition
• Jan Trepczyk (1994), “alarm”, in Słownik polsko-kaszubski (in Kashubian), volumes 1–2
• Eùgeniusz Gòłąbk (2011), “18428”, in Słownik Polsko-Kaszubski / Słowôrz Pòlskò-Kaszëbsczi‎^[3]
• “alarm”, in Internetowi Słowôrz Kaszëbsczégò Jãzëka [Internet Dictionary of the Kashubian Language], Fundacja Kaszuby, 2022

From Italian all' arme (“to arms”) and allarme, via French alarme.

alarm m (definite singular alarmen, indefinite plural alarmer, definite plural alarmene)

1. an alarm

• “alarm” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From Italian all' arme (“to arms”) and allarme, via French alarme.

alarm m (definite singular alarmen, indefinite plural alarmar, definite plural alarmane)

1. an alarm

• “alarm” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Borrowed from French alarme or German Alarm,^[1] from Italian allarm.^[2] First attested in 1644–1660.^[3] Compare Kashubian alarm and Slovincian alarm.

• IPA^(key): /ˈa.larm/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -alarm
• Syllabification: a‧larm

alarm m inan

1. alarm (device used to alarm people)

   Synonym: alert

2. alarm (sound used to alarm people)

   Synonym: alert

3. alarm (state of being alerted)

   Hypernym: alert

4. alarm (fear, apprehension)

   Hypernym: alert

• alarm in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• alarm in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• Samuel Bogumił Linde (1807–1814), “allarm”, in Słownik języka polskiego
• Aleksander Zdanowicz (1861), “alarm”, in Słownik języka polskiego, Wilno 1861
• J. Karłowicz, A. Kryński, W. Niedźwiedzki, editors (1900), “alarm”, in Słownik języka polskiego (in Polish), volume 1, Warsaw, page 21

Borrowed from French alarme.

• IPA^(key): /ǎlarm/
• Hyphenation: a‧larm

àlarm m inan (Cyrillic spelling а̀ларм, relational adjective àlarmnī)

1. alarm

• “alarm”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2025

Borrowed from German Alarm. Compare Kashubian alarm and Polish alarm.

• IPA^(key): /aˈlarm/
• Rhymes: -arm
• Syllabification: a‧larm

alarm m inan (related adjective alarmôwy)

1. alarm

• Lorentz, Friedrich (1908), “alàrm”, in Slovinzisches Wörterbuch‎^[4] (in German), volume 1, Saint Petersburg: ОРЯС ИАН, page 3

alarm n

1. an alarm (warning or emergency signal, and a device that emits such a signal)
2. alarm (state of alarm)

• uppståndelse (“stir, commotion”)
• väckarklocka (“alarm clock”)

• alarm in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• alarm in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• alarm in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

From French alarme.

• IPA^(key): /a.laɾm/
• Hyphenation: a‧larm

alarm (definite accusative alarmı, plural alarmlar)

1. alarm

   Tehlike anında alarmı beklemeden sığınağa girmeliyiz.

   In case of danger, we must enter the shelter without waiting for the alarm.

2. alarm clock

   Synonym: çalar saat

   Alarmım zamanında çalmadı.

   My alarm clock didn't ring on time.