false alarm

noun

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

: 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 incident was chalked up to a false alarm, and last year, the festival proceeded without incident with performances from Missy Elliott and Mariah Carey, among others. —

Spin Staff, SPIN, 4 May 2024 In 2022, a false alarm gun scare at the festival led to crowd panic that left three attendees hospitalized with minor injuries. —

Daniel Kreps, Rolling Stone, 4 May 2024 According to the police log, the LAPD responded to 13 alarm calls at the building in the year prior to the heist, and all of them were determined to be false alarms. —

Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times, 19 Apr. 2024 Jerome Greco, supervising attorney of the digital forensics unit at the Legal Aid Society, said gun detection systems can trigger false alarms and cause panic. —

Karen Matthews, Fortune, 29 Mar. 2024 Warnings lights might indicate a serious problem or a false alarm. —

David Koenig, Quartz, 22 Mar. 2024 Prosecutors charged her as a juvenile with telecommunication harassment and initiating a false alarm, both misdemeanors. —

Kevin Grasha, The Enquirer, 19 Mar. 2024 The false alarm charge carries a penalty of five years in prison and/or $5,000. —

Thomas Goodwin Smith, Baltimore Sun, 1 Feb. 2024 There is no master plan, no permanent winner, and a fair number of false alarms along the way. —

Philipp Carlsson-Szlezak, Fortune, 12 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'false alarm.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.