Word.ws English Dictionary

death knells

death knells is the plural 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

Questions about death knells

What is death knells the plural of?
Death knells is the plural of death knell.

Words near death knells in the dictionary

  1. death instincts
  2. death is the great leveller
  3. death kit
  4. death kits
  5. death knell
  6. death knells
  7. death knock
  8. death knocks
  9. death lantern
  10. death lanterns
  11. death list

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: death knells (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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