How to Use hypervigilant in a Sentence

hypervigilant

adjective
  • Still, anyone doing a rollover — of any sort — should be hypervigilant.
    Ron Lieber, New York Times, 17 May 2025
  • And that officers are trained to be hypervigilant about their own safety.
    Taylor Wilson, USA TODAY, 27 May 2023
  • What appear to be hypervigilant actions by the district have been embraced by many parents at the school.
    Jill Tucker, San Francisco Chronicle, 22 Dec. 2022
  • Such groups have long been used to being hypervigilant, but that mindset is something Atkin sees spreading in our time.
    Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 19 Mar. 2026
  • But Bart is hypervigilant about his son’s fragile health and tries to discourage him from joining the band on the road.
    Patrick Ryan, USA Today, 21 Feb. 2026
  • In other words, a hypervigilant defense system could go haywire and attack one’s own body.
    Kermit Pattison, Scientific American, 20 May 2025
  • In one group session, hypervigilant warriors struggled to comply with instructions to keep their eyes closed.
    Nicole Tung, New York Times, 15 Aug. 2023
  • To suss them out, skywatchers stay hypervigilant for any one-off dip in starlight when a rogue planet crosses serendipitously in front of a star.
    Shi En Kim, Smithsonian Magazine, 1 Apr. 2025
  • Rutherford makes Agathe appear at once hypervigilant and flummoxed, and perhaps this is the truest Austen touch in the movie.
    Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor, 21 May 2025
  • That said, these can be easy mistakes to make, and being hypervigilant about giving credit where due is crucial to being a good coworker.
    Megan Greenwell, Wired, 7 Apr. 2021
  • In some settings, people may already be hypervigilant about AI.
    Andras Molnar, The Conversation, 20 Apr. 2026
  • The family was hypervigilant in taking precautions against the virus.
    Joanna Slater, Washington Post, 5 July 2020
  • As someone who likes to have the same breakfast every morning — a slice of apple pie — and is hypervigilant about counting ballots, all the changes have been hard, but exciting.
    Mackenzie Mays, Los Angeles Times, 22 Nov. 2024
  • During the early phases of the pandemic, millions were confined to their homes and asked to remain hypervigilant in public settings.
    Eleanor Cummins, The New Republic, 6 June 2023
  • And in a world where daily messages now top a trillion, that hypervigilant regulation becomes necessary.
    Eva Roytburg, Fortune, 15 Oct. 2025
  • The ruminative story, full of deep sentiment and a favorite of hypervigilant Austen fans, is one of the most challenging of the author’s novels to put on screen.
    Ellen Gamerman, WSJ, 15 July 2022
  • Halloween Ends will reveal the ways in which Laurie is still hypervigilant, still uncomfortably alert to the potential for danger.
    K. Austin Collins, Rolling Stone, 13 Oct. 2022
  • Following this ns ear death event, the dog became hypervigilant, terrified of anything to do with the police (police cars, sirens, men in police uniform) and would shake and shiver and avoid them like the plague.
    Gareth Cook, Scientific American, 6 Sep. 2016
  • Woodland shared one incident of being hypervigilant.
    ABC News, 10 Mar. 2026
  • For many Americans, the warmer spring and summer months bring backyard barbecues and scenic hikes — along with a chorus of cicadas, mosquitoes galore, and hypervigilant self-checks for ticks.
    Bree Iskandar, STAT, 27 July 2023
  • Racial tensions in the wake of George Floyd's murder in May 2020 have made daters hypervigilant when meeting new people and matching on the apps.
    Myisha Battle, TIME, 13 Apr. 2024
  • In Israel, hypervigilant public health officials mandated that an entire school close any time a single coronavirus case was detected among students or staff.
    Michael Birnbaum, Washington Post, 11 July 2020
  • Instead of using stress as a momentary burst of energy to handle a challenge, your nervous system stays trapped in a hypervigilant state, constantly preparing for the next emotional shift.
    Mark Travers, Forbes, 17 Mar. 2025
  • The judge reminded jurors to not talk about this case with anyone and be hypervigilant for any trial talk on TV — and to immediately change the channel if Combs' name is said.
    Adam Reiss, NBC news, 30 May 2025
  • The subtleties of bias in doctor’s offices, clinics and hospitals, especially if Black patients are not hypervigilant, can be stressful, costly, painful and even deadly.
    Marissa Evansstaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 25 Mar. 2022
  • Some people have seemingly decided to ignore public health advice altogether, while others have been scared into being hypervigilant.
    Faye Flam, Star Tribune, 15 Apr. 2021
  • Since then, the Browns have been hypervigilant about the NFL’s ban on electronic devices during games, and routinely educate their players on the rules.
    cleveland, 18 Aug. 2023
  • People who emerge from prisons with unchecked violence and overuse of solitary confinement might isolate or become hypervigilant, in what is commonly referred to as post-incarceration syndrome.
    Washington Post, 26 May 2021
  • When expectations are unclear, like those communicated by busy bosses, teachers or healthcare providers, people become hypervigilant.
    Rabbi Bruce D. Forman, Sun Sentinel, 3 Feb. 2026
  • In the months following the Drake and Lamar beef, fans have become hypervigilant of every piece of news, labeling each tidbit as a win (W) for their person or a loss (L) for the other.
    Andre Gee, Rolling Stone, 30 Apr. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'hypervigilant.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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