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Alarm vs Warn - What's the difference?

alarm | warn |

In transitive terms the difference between alarm and warn

is that alarm is to keep in excitement; to disturb while warn is to notify (someone) of something untoward.

As a noun alarm

is a summons to arms, as on the approach of an enemy.

alarm

English

Alternative forms

* alarum

Noun

  • A summons to arms, as on the approach of an enemy.
  • ''Arming to answer in a night alarm . --Shakespeare.
  • Any sound or information intended to give notice of approaching danger; a warning sound to arouse attention; a warning of danger.
  • ''Sound an alarm in my holy mountain. --Joel ii. 1.
  • A sudden attack; disturbance.
  • * Shakespeare
  • these home alarms
  • * Alexander Pope
  • thy palace fill with insults and alarms
  • Sudden surprise with fear or terror excited by apprehension of danger; in the military use, commonly, sudden apprehension of being attacked by surprise.
  • ''Alarm and resentment spread throughout the camp. --.
  • A mechanical device for awaking people, or rousing their attention.
  • ''The clockradio is a friendlier version of the cold alarm by the bedside
  • An instance of an alarum ringing or clanging, to give a noise signal at a certain time.
  • ''You should set the alarm on your watch to go off at seven o'clock.

    See also

    * tocsin

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To call to arms for defense
  • To give (someone) notice of approaching danger
  • To rouse to vigilance and action; to put on the alert.
  • To surprise with apprehension of danger; to fill with anxiety in regard to threatening evil; to excite with sudden fear.
  • To keep in excitement; to disturb.
  • References

    *

    Anagrams

    * ----

    warn

    English

    Etymology 1

    (etyl) warnian, from (etyl) . Cognate with German warnen, Dutch waarnen.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To make (someone) aware of impending danger etc.
  • We waved a flag to warn the oncoming traffic.
  • To caution (someone) against unwise or unacceptable behaviour.
  • He was warned against crossing the railway tracks at night.
    Don't let me catch you running in the corridor again, I warn you.
  • To notify (someone) of something untoward.
  • I phoned to warn him of the rail strike.
  • To give warning.
  • * 1526 , William Tyndale, tr. Bible , Galatians II, 9-10:
  • then Iames Cephas and Iohn [...] agreed with vs that we shuld preache amonge the Hethen and they amonge the Iewes: warnynge only that we shulde remember the poore.
  • * 1973 , Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow , Penguin 1995, p. 177:
  • She is his deepest innocence in spaces of bough and hay before wishes were given a different name to warn that they might not come true [...].
  • * 1988 , Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses , Picador 2000, p. 496:
  • She warned that he was seriously thinking of withdrawing his offer to part the waters, ‘so that all you'll get at the Arabian Sea is a saltwater bath [...]’.
  • * 1991 , Clive James, ‘Making Programmes the World Wants’, The Dreaming Swimmer , Jonathan Cape 1992:
  • Every country has its resident experts who warn that imported television will destroy the national consciousness and replace it with Dallas'', ''The Waltons'', ''Star Trek'' and ''Twin Peaks .
    Usage notes
    * The intransitive sense is considered colloquial by some, and is explicitly proscribed by, for example, the Daily Telegraph style guide (which prefers give warning).
    Derived terms
    * warner * warning * warn off

    Etymology 2

    From a combination of (etyl) wiernan (from (etyl) ; compare Swedish varna).

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (label) To refuse, deny (someone something).
  • *:
  • *:And yf thou warne' her loue she shalle goo dye anone yf thou haue no pyte on her / that sygnefyeth the grete byrd / the whiche shalle make the to ' warne her