alarm bell

noun

Definition of alarm bell

: a bell that sounds when an alarm is activated —often used figuratively … the Mexican swine flu outbreak that is sounding alarm bells [=causing people to become worried or alarmed] across the world …— Andres Oppenheimer, Miami Herald, 30 Apr. 2009 The spike in oil prices has set off alarm bells across the automobile industry.

Keep scrolling for more

Learn More about alarm bell

Dictionary Entries near alarm bell

Statistics for alarm bell

Look-up Popularity

Time Traveler for alarm bell

The first known use of alarm bell was in 1548

See more words from the same year

Comments on alarm bell

What made you want to look up alarm bell? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).

WORD OF THE DAY

immure

to enclose within walls

Test Your Vocabulary

Late Autumn 2018 Words of the Day Quiz

Which is a synonym of yahoo?

Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?

TAKE THE QUIZ

SCRABBLE® Sprint

Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.

TAKE THE QUIZ

Words at Play

Ask the Editors

Word Games