Word.ws English Dictionary

death-knell

death-knell is the alternative form of death knell.

Meaning of death knell

Noun

death knell (plural death knells)

  1. The tolling of a bell announcing death.
    • The sound was the stroke of a bell from the tower of East Endelstow Church. […] The death-knell of an inhabitant of the eastern parish was being tolled.1872 September – 1873 July, Thomas Hardy, “‘25’”, in A Pair of Blue Eyes. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Tinsley Brothers, […], published 1873, →OCLC
  2. (broadly) A marker, sign or omen foretelling the imminent end, death or destruction of something.
    • The thought was a death-knell to Helen's last hope, and she sank down, quite overcome;[…]1901, Upton Sinclair, chapter 10, in King Midas

Forms of death-knell

pluraldeath-knells

Questions about death-knell

What is death-knell the alternative form of?
Death-knell is the alternative form of death knell.

Words near death-knell in the dictionary

  1. death-doom
  2. death-fire
  3. death-fires
  4. death-grip
  5. death-hunter
  6. death-knell
  7. death-knells
  8. death-like
  9. death-messenger
  10. death-messengers
  11. death-name

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: death-knell (page history and authors); death knell (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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