(~s, ~ing, ~ed)
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
1.
Alarm is a feeling of fear or anxiety that something unpleasant or dangerous might happen.
The news was greeted with ~ by MPs...
N-UNCOUNT: oft with/in N, N over/about n
2.
If something ~s you, it makes you afraid or anxious that something unpleasant or dangerous might happen.
We could not see what had ~ed him.
= frighten
VERB: V n
3.
An ~ is an automatic device that warns you of danger, for example by ringing a bell.
He heard the ~ go off.
N-COUNT
4.
An ~ is the same as an ~ clock .
N-COUNT
5.
see also ~ing , ~ed , burglar ~ , car ~ , false ~ , fire ~ , smoke ~
6.
If you say that something sets ~ bells ringing, you mean that it makes people feel worried or concerned about something.
PHRASE: N inflects
7.
If you raise the ~ or sound the ~, you warn people of danger.
His family raised the ~ when he had not come home by 9pm.
PHRASE: V inflects