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

Thermal sensors also pick up solar panels, hot factory roofs and sunbaked rock faces, but AI models are built to filter out those false alarms before alerts reach emergency services, according to officials involved in the program. — ABC News, 26 June 2026

Another false alarm is ruled out 10 minutes later, over the street. — Jacob Whitehead, New York Times, 26 June 2026

Fraud tools trained on human behavior might miss signals or raise too many false alarms. — Jeffrey Highman, Forbes.com, 18 June 2026

Multiple floors of the Pentagon were locked down for several hours on Thursday and hazmat crews were deployed due to what was apparently a false alarm. — Stephen Smith, CBS News, 11 June 2026

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