Alarming

How to spell alarming

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce alarming

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does alarming mean?

1. adjectiveCausing worry, fear, or a sense of danger.

Alarming in a sentence

• The report revealed an alarming rise in household debt.

• There was an alarming smell of gas in the kitchen.

Where does alarming come from?

Language of origin: French

This word grows out of the noun and verb 'alarm', which English took from Old French 'alarme' in the 1300s. The French term was itself borrowed from the Italian phrase 'all'arme', meaning literally 'to the weapons', a shouted call for soldiers to seize their arms when danger appeared. Over time the sense softened from a literal battle cry into the broader idea of a warning or a state of fright, and English speakers turned the noun into a verb meaning 'to frighten or warn'. The present participle 'alarming' then settled as an adjective describing anything that causes worry or fear. A useful spelling note: because the word is simply 'alarm' plus '-ing', the single 'l' and single 'm' carry straight through, and the old 'to the arms' origin explains why 'arm' sits visibly inside it.

How the word is built

• alarm (call to arms; sudden fear)
• -ing (adjective suffix)