death knell
/dɛθ nɛl/
death knell noun: the tolling of a bell announcing death.
Noun
death knell (plural death knells)
- 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
- Its recurrence was regular, but as slow as the tolling of a death-knell.1890, Ambrose Bierce, chapter 1, in An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
- 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
- "It is the death knell of an orchestra if it doesn't have its own home," he says.2004 June 28, Jamie James, “The Rise of a Musical Superpower”, in Time
death knell meaning in Arabic
death knell in Arabic
- tolling of a bell announcing death
- صُور ṣūr
Examples of death knell in a sentence
- A rupture would represent a death knell for the West and would harm the US worker.2018, Michael Cottakis – LSE, “Colliding worlds: Donald Trump and the European Union”, in LSE's blog:
- One day in the not too distant future, we may look back on Donald Trump’s return to power as the death knell of “liberal internationalism.”2025 January 23, Ned Temko, “Is the West’s liberal template broken?”, in The Christian Science Monitor:
Forms of death knell
| plural | death knells |
|---|---|
| alternative form | death-knell |
Words that rhyme with death knell
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- hell
- hotel
- repel
- smell
- cartel
- dell
- pell
- quell
- as well
- au naturel
- dwell
- expel
- fell
- gel
- La Rochelle
- lol
- oversell
- stell
- wel
- ABDL
- dispel
- ell
- kell
- knell
- mell
- personnel
- quenelle
- snell
- undersell
- yell
- belle
- del
- farewell
- flotel
- foretell
- gazelle
- impel
- mademoiselle
- marcel
- mel
- morell
- Moselle
- motel
- NFL
- overswell
- propel
- pucelle
- rappel
Questions about death knell
- What does death knell mean?
- Death knell means the tolling of a bell announcing death.
- What is death knell in Arabic?
- Death knell in Arabic is صُور (ṣūr). See Death knell meaning in Arabic.
- How do you use death knell in a sentence?
- A rupture would represent a death knell for the West and would harm the US worker.
- What part of speech is death knell?
- Death knell is a noun.
- How do you pronounce death knell?
- Death knell is pronounced /dɛθ nɛl/.
- What is the plural of death knell?
- The plural of death knell is death knells.
Words near death knell in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: 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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-death knell.ogg.
Cite this entry: “death knell.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/death_knell. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.