Other forms: alerted, alerts, alerting
Alert means awake and watching, with nothing getting past you. A guard at four in the morning, a driver on a long dark stretch of motorway, a two-year-old who has just spotted the biscuit tin.
It also means sharp and clear-headed rather than merely awake: the doctor came out and said he is comfortable and alert. As a verb, to alert someone is to warn them fast — a neighbour alerted the fire brigade. As a noun, an alert is the warning itself: a flood alert, a security alert, the alerts buzzing on your phone all evening. On the alert and on high alert both mean ready for trouble, red alert is the top of the scale, and alert TO something is the pattern for naming what you are watching for: alert to the risk of infection.
1adjectivealertAwake and paying close attention to what is happening.~2%
“Two hours into the drive he was still alert.”
2adjectivequickQuick to notice and understand; mentally sharp.~7%
“She was ninety and as alert as she had ever been.”
3verbnotifyTo warn someone about danger or a problem.~13%
“A passer-by alerted the police.”
4noundangerousA warning that something dangerous may happen.~78%
“The council issued a flood alert for the whole valley.”
Shares are an estimate: a language model read 15 sentences found in the wild and placed 15 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.
Behind alert stands the Italian all'erta, to the height, from erta, a lookout or a tower. French took it as the phrase à l'erte, on the watch, and then as the single word alerte. Being alert is standing up on the tower with the whole valley in view.
Italian
all'erta — to the height
French
alerte — alert
English, today
alert
Built from
From French alerte (“alert”), from the phrase à l'erte (“on the watch”), from Italian all'erta (“to the height”), from erta (“lookout, tower”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA