alert

«alert» in Mova's school dictionary: Watching and listening carefully, awake and ready to… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

adjective (alert, more alert, most alert); noun (an alert, alerts); verb (alert, alerts, alerted, alerting)

meaning for a pupil

1) Watching and listening carefully, awake and ready to notice danger or act quickly. tree →

2) A warning signal or message about danger or something important (a weather alert, a phone alert). tree →

3) To warn someone or tell them about something so they can act. tree →

4) On the alert / on high alert: ready and watching for danger. tree →

sense in the lessons

In safety lessons «be alert» means keep your eyes and ears open: crossing roads, near water, in crowds. Phones and computers send alerts (notifications); authorities send weather alerts for storms, floods, fires. Animals are alert to predators. Phrases: stay alert, on the alert, high alert, alert someone to something, flood alert, amber alert.

examples

• Stay alert when you cross the road. tree →
• The meerkat stood up, alert for eagles. tree →
• My phone gave an alert when the message arrived. tree →
• The town got a flood alert after the heavy rain. tree →
• A neighbour smelled smoke and alerted the fire brigade. tree →
• The guard dog was alert all night. tree →
• After a good sleep you feel more alert in class. tree →
• Police are on high alert during the parade. tree →
• His alert eye caught sight of a rawhide rope staked to the water's brink, which led away toward a small round hut in the distance. tree →

note

«Alert» as an adjective is the opposite of «sleepy» or «careless». «Alert someone to something» = warn them about it. Say «an alert» (starts with a vowel sound). Not to be confused with «allergy».

In the corpora

• Caimans rarely attack big grown capybaras, which are too big and alert, and the two often share river banks.
• Bright screens and exciting games keep the brain alert and can delay melatonin, the sleepy hormone that rises when it gets dark.
• Ears pinned flat back often mean fear; ears pushed stiffly forward can mean the dog is on alert.
• Big weather dangers come with warnings, and a family that follows its emergency plan and listens to official alerts stays safe.
• During a hurricane, tornado or bushfire warning, the family follows its emergency plan and listens to official alerts.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «alert» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.