as in terrifying
causing fear
an alarming rise in her fever, causing the doctor to fear the worst
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
variants
also alaruming
1
as in frightening
to strike with fear
I don't want to alarm you, but I think you should know there's a bear on your back porch
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in disturbing
to trouble the mind of; to make uneasy
alarmed at the skyrocketing cost of home heating fuel
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of alarming
Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 24 Mar. 2026
Phishing and smishing Scammers send alarming messages with fake QR codes directing you to fraudulent IRS websites.
—Jill Schlesinger, Mercury News, 23 Mar. 2026
Tom Chivers, semafor.com, 5 Jan. 2026
Inflation reached 69% — alarming at the time but modest in hindsight — and the first major wave of protests erupted.
—Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 3 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for alarming
Adjective
Particularly alarming, rights organizations say, is the presence of children as young as 10 working in mines, often alongside adults in hazardous conditions, deprived of schooling and exposed to exploitation.
—Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 24 Mar. 2026
Phishing and smishing Scammers send alarming messages with fake QR codes directing you to fraudulent IRS websites.
—Jill Schlesinger, Mercury News, 23 Mar. 2026
Verb
China’s increasingly advanced military capabilities are alarming the West and reshaping the global balance of naval power, analysts said.
—Tom Chivers, semafor.com, 5 Jan. 2026
Inflation reached 69% — alarming at the time but modest in hindsight — and the first major wave of protests erupted.
—Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 3 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for alarming
Recent Examples of Synonyms for alarming
Adjective
-
The terrifying cadence of airstrikes shapes daily life in Tehran.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
28 Mar. 2026
-
But beneath the ice, something terrifying has awakened.—
Jackie Strause,
HollywoodReporter,
27 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
Clumsiness notwithstanding, bringing a criminal case against a journalist who was reporting on a protest is an authoritarian tactic—a means of frightening the press away from uncovering the truth.—
Quinta Jurecic,
The Atlantic,
30 Jan. 2026
-
But monks there complained that the slain king was walking around at night, frightening them with strange sounds.—
Rivka Galchen,
New Yorker,
7 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
Instead of barging past, the Great Dane carefully adjusts his body, pressing himself to the side of the stairs in an effort to avoid disturbing the cat.—
Maria Azzurra Volpe,
MSNBC Newsweek,
30 Mar. 2026
-
Police said there were reports of reckless driving throughout the parking lot, a fire, underage drinking, and disturbing others at the shopping district.—
Robert A. Cronkleton
March 30,
Kansas City Star,
30 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Wallner and second baseman Luke Keaschall had a scary collision in the eighth inning on a pop fly to right by Salvador Perez that Keaschall caught.—
David Brown,
Twin Cities,
30 Mar. 2026
-
Especially one that features Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Martin Necas, Nazem Kadri, Brock Nelson, Val Nichushkin and Nicolas Roy, all at the same time, a legitimately scary roster that goes four lines and two goaltenders deep.—
Sean Keeler,
Denver Post,
30 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
Some cyclists sped by pretty quickly, startling us and our dog.—
Maura Fox,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
27 Mar. 2026
-
Hauge called that startling, given that court filing fees alone cost just as much.—
Frederick Melo,
Twin Cities,
4 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
How can other young women and girls who wants to be creators online push through that embarrassment and stop worrying about what other people are thinking?—
Emma Hinchliffe,
Fortune,
26 Mar. 2026
-
But the start of the war in Iran has many European leaders worrying about a deeper break within NATO.—
Simon Shuster,
The Atlantic,
26 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Yahoo will be competing against a familiar foil in Google, which remains the same formidable force that spelled the company's demise 20 years ago and has been progressively layering more AI into its search engine with its Gemini technology.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
27 Mar. 2026
-
Then finding the players who can execute them has made UConn the sport’s most formidable force.—
Dom Amore,
Hartford Courant,
27 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
During the first phase, last spring, before DHS got the infusion of new money, Noem led a shock-and-awe campaign aimed mostly at scaring people into leaving.—
Nick Miroff,
The Atlantic,
27 Mar. 2026
-
At the time, local hunters blamed the Ping for scaring away game.—
Andrew Coletti,
Popular Science,
26 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Alarming.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/alarming. Accessed 31 Mar. 2026.
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