false alarm

noun

1

: an alarm (such as a fire or burglar alarm) that is set off needlessly

2

: something causing alarm or excitement that proves to be unfounded

Examples of false alarm in a Sentence

A false alarm drew firefighters to the school.

The report that the factory would be closing was a false alarm.

He thought he might be having a heart attack, but his chest pains were just a false alarm.

Recent Examples on the Web

The alert was canceled within an hour, and the USGS later posted a notice to its main earthquakes page, saying that the event did not occur, and had been deleted from USGS websites and data feeds while the federal agency worked to understand the cause of the false alarm. —Darrell Smith, Sacbee.com, 5 Dec. 2025

Current estimates suggest that the rate for false alarms in terms of this type of detection is around one every four years. —Robert Lea, Space.com, 30 Nov. 2025

Early versions also tended to annoy drivers with unnecessary beeping and false alarms. —Camila Domonoske, NPR, 24 Nov. 2025

The economy has had false alarms over the past several years. —David Goldman, CNN Money, 20 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1578, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for false alarm

• arm
• charm
• farm
• harm
• disarm
• forearm
• gendarme
• nonfarm
• rearm
• firearm
• underarm