Alert Meaning
/əˈlɜːt/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjAttentive; awake; on guard.
adjbrisk; nimble; moving with celerity.
Sentence Examples
You should be alert to the possible dangers.
We must be alert to dangers.
Suddenly he found himself awake and fully alert.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The security guard saw the intruder and radioed to ____ the police.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Please stay ____ during the night shift in case the alarm sounds.
Word Origin & History
From French alerte (“alert”), from the phrase à l'erte (“on the watch”), from Italian all'erta (“to the height”), from erta (“lookout, tower”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"I saw an alert young fellow that cocked his hat upon a friend of his who entered just at the same time with myself"
— 1712 June 22 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “WEDNESDAY, June 12, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 408; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume V, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The security guard saw the intruder and radioed to ____ the police.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Please stay ____ during the night shift in case the alarm sounds.