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| Colorful English! | ||||
| Word or Phrase: | Part of Speech: | Idiom or General?: | Usage? | Restricted? |
| red alert | noun | general | not very | No |
| Meaning: | ||||
| the highest level of alert when an attack appears about to happen | ||||
| Example(s): | ||||
| In the modern world, with thousands of nuclear-tipped ICBMs, many governments at red alert do not plan to notify their people, on the theory that they can not escape the attack, and the deaths caused by panicky citizens could exceed the tens of millions about to be vaporized. | ||||
| Note: red alert may also be known by other names, and may also have similar conditions. The US military has a system of DEFCONs, or defense conditions, where DEFCON 1 is the highest. On a naval vessel they call GQ or General Quarters to call the sailors to a position to fight the ship. | ||||