"alarm bell" meaning in English

See alarm bell in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: alarm bells [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun}} alarm bell (plural alarm bells)
  1. (figuratively, usually in the plural) A sudden awareness of danger. Tags: figuratively, plural-normally Translations (sudden awareness of danger): alarmklokke [common-gender] (Danish), Alarmglocke [feminine] (German), alarmklokke [feminine, masculine] (Norwegian Bokmål), alarmklokke [feminine] (Norwegian Nynorsk), dzwonek alarmowy [masculine] (Polish), sygnał alarmowy [masculine] (Polish)
    Sense id: en-alarm_bell-en-noun-TjVRDuqb Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 55 45 Disambiguation of 'sudden awareness of danger': 98 2
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see alarm, bell.
    Sense id: en-alarm_bell-en-noun-R73WFfXy Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 55 45

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for alarm bell meaning in English (3.9kB)

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "alarm bells",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "alarm bell (plural alarm bells)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "55 45",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1998, Michele Gillespie, Catherine Clinton, Taking off the white gloves: Southern women and women historians",
          "text": "The specter of women in factories, women in schoolrooms, and women attending — a lot less addressing — public meetings set off alarm bells in the South.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010, John M Findley, Just Lucky",
          "text": "I only got a glimpse of him, but alarm bells went off. He wasn't rushing over to give me a pat on the back for stopping to help.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011 October 1, Tom Fordyce, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland”, in BBC Sport",
          "text": "England were shipping penalties at an alarming rate - five in the first 15 minutes alone - and with Wilkinson missing three long-distance pots of his own in the first 20 minutes, the alarm bells began to ring for Martin Johnson's men.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2022 January 12, Tom Allett, “MPs concerned at Treasury's influence on rail industry”, in RAIL, number 948, page 13",
          "text": "The December 11 Telegraph story, which accused the Treasury of blocking plans for £30 billion worth of electrification across the rail network [...], has rung alarm bells over who is the real source of power concerning rail's development - the Department of Transport or the Treasury?",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2022 November 2, Ed Pilkington, “‘The Trump playbook’: Republicans hint they will deny election results”, in The Guardian",
          "text": "That an arch-election denier who has been at the forefront of attempts to overturn Biden’s victory should refuse to state openly whether she will abide by the outcome of her own election has set alarm bells ringing.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A sudden awareness of danger."
      ],
      "id": "en-alarm_bell-en-noun-TjVRDuqb",
      "links": [
        [
          "awareness",
          "awareness"
        ],
        [
          "danger",
          "danger"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figuratively, usually in the plural) A sudden awareness of danger."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively",
        "plural-normally"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "98 2",
          "code": "da",
          "lang": "Danish",
          "sense": "sudden awareness of danger",
          "tags": [
            "common-gender"
          ],
          "word": "alarmklokke"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "98 2",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "sudden awareness of danger",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "Alarmglocke"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "98 2",
          "code": "nb",
          "lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
          "sense": "sudden awareness of danger",
          "tags": [
            "feminine",
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "alarmklokke"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "98 2",
          "code": "nn",
          "lang": "Norwegian Nynorsk",
          "sense": "sudden awareness of danger",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "alarmklokke"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "98 2",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "sudden awareness of danger",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "dzwonek alarmowy"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "98 2",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "sudden awareness of danger",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "sygnał alarmowy"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "55 45",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2000, James Hadley Chase, An Ear to the Ground",
          "text": "He put his foot on a concealed button under his desk and rang an alarm bell. He always had two strongarm men lolling around in an office down the passage.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see alarm, bell."
      ],
      "id": "en-alarm_bell-en-noun-R73WFfXy",
      "links": [
        [
          "alarm",
          "alarm#English"
        ],
        [
          "bell",
          "bell#English"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "alarm bell"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "alarm bells",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "alarm bell (plural alarm bells)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1998, Michele Gillespie, Catherine Clinton, Taking off the white gloves: Southern women and women historians",
          "text": "The specter of women in factories, women in schoolrooms, and women attending — a lot less addressing — public meetings set off alarm bells in the South.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010, John M Findley, Just Lucky",
          "text": "I only got a glimpse of him, but alarm bells went off. He wasn't rushing over to give me a pat on the back for stopping to help.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011 October 1, Tom Fordyce, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland”, in BBC Sport",
          "text": "England were shipping penalties at an alarming rate - five in the first 15 minutes alone - and with Wilkinson missing three long-distance pots of his own in the first 20 minutes, the alarm bells began to ring for Martin Johnson's men.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2022 January 12, Tom Allett, “MPs concerned at Treasury's influence on rail industry”, in RAIL, number 948, page 13",
          "text": "The December 11 Telegraph story, which accused the Treasury of blocking plans for £30 billion worth of electrification across the rail network [...], has rung alarm bells over who is the real source of power concerning rail's development - the Department of Transport or the Treasury?",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2022 November 2, Ed Pilkington, “‘The Trump playbook’: Republicans hint they will deny election results”, in The Guardian",
          "text": "That an arch-election denier who has been at the forefront of attempts to overturn Biden’s victory should refuse to state openly whether she will abide by the outcome of her own election has set alarm bells ringing.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A sudden awareness of danger."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "awareness",
          "awareness"
        ],
        [
          "danger",
          "danger"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figuratively, usually in the plural) A sudden awareness of danger."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively",
        "plural-normally"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2000, James Hadley Chase, An Ear to the Ground",
          "text": "He put his foot on a concealed button under his desk and rang an alarm bell. He always had two strongarm men lolling around in an office down the passage.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see alarm, bell."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "alarm",
          "alarm#English"
        ],
        [
          "bell",
          "bell#English"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "da",
      "lang": "Danish",
      "sense": "sudden awareness of danger",
      "tags": [
        "common-gender"
      ],
      "word": "alarmklokke"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "sudden awareness of danger",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "Alarmglocke"
    },
    {
      "code": "nb",
      "lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
      "sense": "sudden awareness of danger",
      "tags": [
        "feminine",
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "alarmklokke"
    },
    {
      "code": "nn",
      "lang": "Norwegian Nynorsk",
      "sense": "sudden awareness of danger",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "alarmklokke"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "sudden awareness of danger",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "dzwonek alarmowy"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "sudden awareness of danger",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "sygnał alarmowy"
    }
  ],
  "word": "alarm bell"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.