alarm bells start to ring

alarm bells start to ring

Some issue indicates that one should be concerned about a potentially greater problem or troubling situation. Alarm bells started to ring among the board members when sales continued to decline for the second straight If your date asks you to meet in a secluded place, alarm bells should start to ring.
See also: alarm, bell, ring, start
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

alarm bells start to ring

COMMON If alarm bells start to ring, you begin to be aware of a problem in a situation. It was when the headaches suddenly got a lot worse that alarm bells started to ring. Note: You can also say something sets alarm bells ringing, meaning that something makes you start to be aware of a problem. His absence from work for three days had set alarm bells ringing. Note: You can also say warning bells start to ring. He didn't understand the half of it but warning bells were starting to ring in the back of his mind. Note: You can also say something sets warning bells ringing meaning that something makes you start to be aware of a problem. There was something in the way she spoke that set warning bells ringing in Brak's head.
See also: alarm, bell, ring, start
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.
See also:
  • warning bells start to ring
  • alarm bells start ringing
  • warning bells start ringing
  • set off alarm bells
  • set alarm bells ringing
  • bell
  • hang (one) out to dry
  • hang out to dry
  • hang somebody out to dry
  • hang someone out to dry
References in periodicals archive
"Alarm bells start to ring when some courts make that decision much more frequently than courts located in other parts of the country.
"When you find yourself 2-0 down so quickly, regardless of how the first leg went, then alarm bells start to ring and you know you need to get back in the game.
So when we see a patient suffering from some or all of these conditions, alarm bells start to ring.
FACTUAL Alarm bells start to ring when officers visit a technology company with a High Court writ, while Ken attempts to deal with one of Britain's most well-known.
And then I saw a picture that made alarm bells start to ring. Quietly at first, and then ever more loudly.
Alarm bells start to ring this week when his phone beeps and Brendan says it's a message from his mother, causing him to abandon his drink with her.
But this is where alarm bells start to ring. Of these boxes, only two are devoted to traditional singers, Lead Belly and Woody Guthrie, who are special cases because of their sustained contact with the revival, and there is not even a token one from Britain.
"When you see a store like Woolworths going to the wall it does raise a few eyebrows and when a big name like this is having difficulties the alarm bells start to ring," he said.
A tune-up fight is fine in theory - but when the suggested opponent for a January bout is Ray Mercer, alarm bells start to ring.
"Of course alarm bells start to ring because we do not want to be in that position in the league.
The spokesman added: "When you see someone who isn't a regular and looks out of place, trying to bet pounds 2000 on something like this, then alarm bells start to ring."
But when a convicted murderer is hit in the head with a single bullet, alarm bells start to ring. A serial killer appears to be on the trail of the subjects of Nick's more gruesome stories.
He said: "Goals change games and the alarm bells start to ring when you see the amount of goals we are conceding.
If the answer is 'yes' then let your alarm bells start to ring. Is this fee refundable if you change your mind?
How bad must this get before alarm bells start to ring in the Dail?