alert

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♦ alert /əl'ɜːrt/ (alerts alerting alerted)
1 [ADJ]
If you are alert, you are paying full attention to things around you and are able to deal with anything that might happen.
We all have to stay alert...
He had been spotted by an alert neighbour.
= attentive
● alertness [N-UNCOUNT]
The drug improved mental alertness.
2 [ADJ] v-link ADJ to n
If you are alert to something, you are fully aware of it.
The bank is alert to the danger.
3 [N-COUNT]
An alert is a situation in which people prepare themselves for something dangerous that might happen soon.
Due to a security alert, this train will not be stopping at Oxford Circus.
4 [VERB] V n to n, V n
If you alert someone to a situation, especially a dangerous or unpleasant situation, you tell them about it.
He wanted to alert people to the activities of the group...
I was hoping he'd alert the police.
5
see also red alert
6 [PHRASE] PHR after v, v-link PHR
If soldiers or police are on alert, they are ready to deal with anything that may happen.
Soldiers and police have been put on alert.
7 [PHRASE] PHR after v, v-link PHR
If you are on the alert for something, you are ready to deal with it if it happens.
They want to be on the alert for similar buying opportunities.red alert (red alerts)
[N-VAR]
If a hospital, a police force, or a military force is on red alert, they have been warned that there may be an emergency, so they can be ready to deal with it.
All the Plymouth hospitals are on red alert...

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