hypervigilant.

Unusually watchful for possible danger, sometimes beyond what the situation requires.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• hypervigilant response
• hypervigilant observer

On the page

After the break-in, he became hypervigilant about every sound.

Usage notes

Primary category: psychology / human behavior. Forms: Comparative more hypervigilant; superlative most hypervigilant when comparison is meaningful. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: character, behavior. Commonness: moderately common.