warn Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb 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
  2. verb admonish or counsel in terms of someone's behavior
    admonish; discourage; monish.
    • I warned him not to go too far
    • I warn you against false assumptions
    • She warned him to be quiet
  3. verb ask to go away
    • The old man warned the children off his property
  4. verb notify, usually in advance
    • I warned you that I would ask some difficult questions

WordNet

Warn transitive verb
Etymology
OE. wernen, AS. weornan, wyrnan. Cf. Warn to admonish.
Definitions
  1. To refuse. Written also wern, worn. Obs. Chaucer.
Warn transitive verb
Etymology
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. .
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Warned ; present participle & verbal noun Warning
Definitions
  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." 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? Shak.
  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." Dryden.
  3. To ward off. Obs. Spenser.

Webster 1913