warn
VerbOpen English WordNet
Verb (4)warns, warned, warning
- notify of danger, potential harm, or risk“The director warned him that he might be fired”“The doctor warned me about the dangers of smoking”More general informMore specific threaten, alarm, caution, forewarnSimilar discourage, admonish
- advise or counsel in terms of someone's behavior“I warned him not to go too far”“I warn you against false assumptions”“She warned him to be quiet”Synonyms: discourageadmonishmonishMore general rede, advise
- ask to go away“The old man warned the children off his property”More general order, tell
- notify, usually in advance“I warned you that I would ask some difficult questions”More general inform
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Translations
Verb to make someone aware of impending danger
- Spanish
- advertir
- French
- avertir
- German
- warnen
- Italian
- avvertire
- Portuguese
- advertir
- Turkish
- uyarmak
- Russian
- предупрежда́ть predupreždátʹ
- Arabic
- حَذَّرَ ḥaḏḏara
- Chinese
- 警告 jǐnggào
- Japanese
- 警告する keikoku suru
24 more languages
- Dutch
- waarschuwen
- Polish
- ostrzegać
- Swedish
- varna
- Greek
- προειδοποιώ proeidopoió
- Korean
- 경고하다 gyeonggohada
- Vietnamese
- cảnh báo
- Hungarian
- figyelmeztet
- Portuguese (PT)
- advertir
- Chinese (Trad.)
- 警告 jǐnggào
- Albanian
- paralajmëroj
- Catalan
- advertir
- Czech
- varovat
- Danish
- advare
- Esperanto
- averti
- Estonian
- hoiatama
- Finnish
- varoittaa
- Georgian
- გაფრთხილება gaprtxileba
- Icelandic
- aðvara
- Lithuanian
- perspėti
- Norwegian
- advare
- Romanian
- avertiza
- Serbo-Croatian
- upozoriti
- Swahili
- onya
- Welsh
- rhybuddio
The main translation for each meaning, from the langtolang.com multilingual dictionary. Each word links to its full entry there.
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Origin: OE. wernen, AS. weornan, wyrnan. Cf. Warn to admonish.
To refuse. [Written also wern, worn.] obsolete Geoffrey Chaucer
Origin: OE. warnen, warnien, AS. warnian, wearnian, to take heed, to warn; akin to AS. wearn denial, refusal, OS. warning, wernian, to refuse, OHG. warnen, G. warnen to warn, OFries. warna, werna, Icel. varna to refuse; and probably to E. wary. ….
1. To make ware or aware; to give previous information to; to give notice to; to notify; to admonish; hence, to notify or summon by authority; as, to warn a town meeting; to warn a tenant to quit a house. “Warned of the ensuing fight.” John Dryden
Cornelius the centurion... was warned from God by an holy angel to send for thee.— Acts x. 22.
Who is it that hath warned us to the walls?— William Shakespeare
2. To give notice to, of approaching or probable danger or evil; to caution against anything that may prove injurious. “Juturna warns the Daunian chief of Lausus' danger, urging swift relief.” John Dryden
3. To ward off. obsolete Edmund Spenser
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54