alarums and excursions

plural noun

1

: martial sounds and the movement of soldiers across the stage

—used as a stage direction in Elizabethan drama

2

: clamor, excitement, and feverish or disordered activity

Synonyms

• commotion
• stir
• disturbance
• hurry
• turmoil
• fuss
• noise
• row
• racket
• fun

Examples of alarums and excursions in a Sentence

the city is preparing for the alarums and excursions that inevitably accompany a presidential visit

Word History

First Known Use

1605, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for alarums and excursions

• animadversions
• aspersions
• aversions
• conversions
• dispersions
• diversions
• immersions
• incursions
• inversions
• perversions
• reversions
• persians