虚惊 (xū jīng) — false alarm; unnecessary panic

Definition

Examples

• 大家虚惊一场，原来只是报警器坏了。
  Dà jiā xū jīng yì chǎng, yuán lái zhǐ shì bào jǐng qì huài le.
  Everyone had a false alarm — it turned out the alarm was just broken.
• 医院说可能是癌症，最后检查证明是虚惊。
  Yī yuàn shuō kě néng shì ái zhèng, zuì hòu jiǎn chá zhèng míng shì xū jīng.
  The hospital said it might be cancer, but the final test proved it was a false alarm.
• 别紧张，这很可能只是一场虚惊。
  Bié jǐn zhāng, zhè hěn kě néng zhǐ shì yì chǎng xū jīng.
  Don't be nervous; this is probably just a false alarm.