alarming

adjective

alarm·​ing ə-ˈlär-miŋ 

: causing people to feel danger or alarm or to be worried or frightened

alarming news

The statistics revealed an alarming increase in childhood obesity.

alarmingly

ə-ˈlär-miŋ-lē

adverb

an alarmingly high rate of infection

Synonyms of alarming

• terrifying
• frightening
• scary
• formidable
• horrible
• terrible
• intimidating
• shocking

Examples of alarming in a Sentence

an alarming rise in her fever, causing the doctor to fear the worst

Recent Examples on the Web

Worker shortages nationwide have eased considerably from their alarming levels in the years following the pandemic, when there were millions more job openings than there were workers to fill them. — Scott Cohn, CNBC, 16 July 2026

Nothing alarming had come up when Jean had run reverse-image searches on Donnie’s photos months before. — Juliet Linderman, Fortune, 16 July 2026

On a national scale, these buildings do not use an alarming amount of water. — Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 16 July 2026

That warnings from front-line salespeople took so long to bubble up to senior management, and out to stockholders, is also alarming. — Rohan Goswami, semafor.com, 14 July 2026

Word History

Etymology

from present participle of alarm entry 2

First Known Use

1658, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for alarming

• disarming
• arming
• charming
• farming
• harming