false alarm

A benign situation initially mistaken for an emergency. Mary thought she was going into labor, but it turned out to be a false alarm. When the smoke detectors started beeping, we thought the building was on fire, but it was just a false alarm caused by faulty wiring.

false alarm

A warning signal that is groundless, made either by mistake or as a deliberate deception. For example, The rumor that we were all going to get fired was just a false alarm, or Setting off a false alarm is a criminal offense. This expression, first recorded in 1579, today is often used for a report of a nonexistent fire.

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Harmon	HAHR-mən	English
Naiara	-	Basque
CecÍLia	-	Portuguese, Slovak, Hungarian
Warinhari	-	Ancient Germanic
Cevdet	-	Turkish
RÍAn	-	Irish