alarmist
/əˈlɑːməst/uh-LAHR-muhst
UK form converted from the US by rule · unchecked/əˈlɑɹməst/uh-LAHR-muhst
Meaningone who raises alarms
Common meaning: a person who stirs up needless fear
Tap a word part to explore
- alto, towards (form of ad-)
- armweapons, gear of warLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 162 · scan
- ista person who does or follows
‘to, towards (form of ad-)’ + ‘weapons, gear of war’ → alarmist
Journey through time
- Latinarma‘weapons, gear of war’
- Frenchalarme
- Englishalarm‘a warning of danger’
- Englishformed in English from alarmalarmist‘a person who stirs up needless fear’ · today
Sources & notes
Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
- No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
- US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
- No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.
Origin: Formed in English from alarm + -ist.
Dictionary: Skeat (1898), ALARM, p.14 · scan
Roots
- arma Latin “weapons, gear of war”
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