false alarm 
noun
A warning given about something that fails to happen: the fire bells were a false alarm...
- There have been a series of false alarms about the disease in Britain since the massive outbreak last year that effectively shut down the countryside and resulted in the slaughter of millions of cattle, pigs and sheep.
- There always has to be a delicate balance between these opposing needs, to catch all the cancers while protecting women without cancer from false alarms and unnecessary invasive procedures.
- Society reacts to police tragedy with tears of remorse, yet can't seem to understand why police are so aggressive in situations that turn out to be false alarms.
- small print
- small profits and quick returns
- small-reed
- small rice
- small room
- small round
- small sail
- small sails
- small salad
- smallsat
- small saver
- small-scale
- small science
- small seed
- small slam
- small stores
- small stuff
- small-sword
- small-sword logic
- small talk
- small-talker
- small-talking
- small ticket
- small-time
- small-timer