alarm·ism
| \ ə-ˈlär-ˌmi-zəm
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Definition of alarmism
: the often unwarranted exciting of fears or warning of danger
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Other Words from alarmism
alarmist
\
ə-ˈlär-mist
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noun or adjective
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noun or adjective
Examples of alarmism in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Few things in the cybersecurity industry have a worse reputation than alarmism.
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New York Times, "How the United States Lost to Hackers," 4 Feb. 2021
Psychedelics are psychoactive substances that historically have attracted exaggerations of benefits as well as alarmism.
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Matthew W. Johnson, Scientific American, "There's No Good Evidence that Psychedelics Can Change Your Politics or Religion," 5 Nov. 2020
The race might look a lot different today if the president had staked out a position between alarmism and ignorance.
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Isaac Schorr, National Review, "The Coronavirus Case Trump Could Have Made," 27 Oct. 2020
Yet Trump, blind as always to any shift in public opinion that might endanger his electoral prospects, has plunged headlong into culture-wars alarmism, framing wealthy suburbanites as the real victims of racial violence.
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Jake Bittle, The New Republic, "The Right’s Increasingly Unhinged Fight Against Black Lives Matter," 31 July 2020
Cancer patients who steer between the Scylla of alarmism and the Charybdis of defeatism have devised oblique stratagems to navigate the difficult passageway of fearful vigilance.
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Susan Gubar, New York Times, "What Cancer Has Taught Me About Fear," 15 Apr. 2020
David Wallace-Wells, the deputy editor of New York magazine whose work has appeared in The Times, argued the contrary, saying that a dash of alarmism suits alarming developments.
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Marc Tracy, New York Times, "As the World Heats Up, the Climate for News Is Changing, Too," 8 July 2019
Speaking from one side of his mouth, Trump has amplified alarmism.
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Fintan O’toole, The New York Review of Books, "Vector in Chief," 29 Apr. 2020
For instance, does the alarmism of climate-change enthusiasts turn otherwise persuadable people into skeptics?
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Barton Swaim, WSJ, "‘Why We’re Polarized’ Review: Going to Extremes," 5 Feb. 2020
See MoreThese example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'alarmism.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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“Alarmism.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/alarmism. Accessed 11 May. 2021.
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Time Traveler for alarmism
The first known use of alarmism was in 1842
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