Alarm

How to spell alarm

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce alarm

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does alarm mean?

1. nounA warning of danger, a device that gives such a warning, or a feeling of fear and worry.
2. verbTo make someone feel sudden fear or worry.

Alarm in a sentence

• noun

  The smoke alarm in the kitchen needs a fresh battery.

• verb

  The sudden drop in sales began to alarm the directors.

• noun

  She set the alarm on her phone for six in the morning.

• verb

  Loud noises in the night can alarm even a calm dog.

Where does alarm come from?

Language of origin: Italian

This word began as a battlefield cry. It comes from the Italian phrase all'arme, which literally meant 'to the weapons!' or 'to arms!', shouted to call soldiers to defend themselves against a surprise attack. The two words were fused into a single noun, allarme, describing the sudden call itself, and English borrowed it through Old French alarme in the late 1300s. Over time the meaning broadened from the military summons to any warning of danger, then to the feeling of fear that such a warning produces, and finally to the modern devices, like clocks and burglar systems, that sound a warning. The single 'l' in the English spelling reflects the French form rather than the doubled 'll' of the original Italian, which is the small detail writers most often overlook.

How the word is built

• al- (from Italian all': to the)
• arm (from arme: weapons)
• (later sense 'to arms!')