A fresh round of alarm? I found this phrase in the sentence, "The disruption at Deutsche Telekom, which began on Nov. 27, set off a fresh round of alarm over potential Russian meddling and the vulner

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A fresh round of alarm? I found this phrase in the sentence, "The disruption at Deutsche Telekom, which began on Nov. 27, set off a fresh round of alarm over potential Russian meddling and the vulnerability of Germanys computer networks, which could be disrupted or hacked during an election." in an article of New York Times. What does "fresh round" mean? How does it sound different from saying "set an alarm" instead? Also "set off" means simply "set"? I checked a dictionary but it only showed "start a trip". Thanks in advance!

Dec 8, 2016 10:45 PM

Answers · 3

The phrase "a fresh round of" has an independent meaning. It is not always related to "set off an alarm". You may know the expression "a round of applause", which is what an audience gives a speaker at the end of a speech they like. A "round" is a like an episode, a certain duration of an activity. Here, "fresh" means new. Another way to say this sentence is: "The disruption started a new period of alarm about...."

December 8, 2016

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