knell 1 of 2

Definition of knellnext
as in to ring
to make the clear sound heard when metal vibrates the church bells knelled to mark the death of the nation's beloved leader

Synonyms & Similar Words

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knell

2 of 2

noun

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of knell
Noun
But the closing of Music Hall seems a particularly poignant death knell. — Michael Calderone, Curbed, 4 Sep. 2026 What’s more, Reid and Sherrell said, condescension from medical providers over cultural beliefs or practices can be a death knell for public health. — Cara Kelly, USA Today, 30 Aug. 2026 The job loss alone might be a death knell for the Hollywood community, which Los Angeles County estimates could be in the thousands. — Mike Schur, HollywoodReporter, 24 Aug. 2026 Experts suggest this isn't a death knell for American and European firms, who are strategically focusing on product refinement and reliability before mass scaling, aiming for sustainable market entry rather than rapid, potentially flawed, volume. — John Koetsier, Forbes.com, 11 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for knell
Recent Examples of Synonyms for knell
Verb
  • Mindy Miranda said her 8-year-old daughter was in her third-grade classroom upstairs when shots rang out.
    — Kaila Nichols, NBC news, 16 Oct. 2026
  • The tables were draped in salmon-pink tablecloths and ringed with bright red chairs, and each plate had a napkin folded into a swan.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 16 Oct. 2026
Noun
  • One of the more surreal responses to that experience is applause, which ripples through the audience of Paranormal Activity a beat after all the major scares, like rain settling in after a peal of thunder.
    — Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 26 Aug. 2026
  • Assuming the role of a human clapper, Holzinger struck its lip again and again, sending a sonorous peal across the Biennale grounds.
    — Tessa Solomon, ARTnews.com, 24 June 2026
Noun
  • The index is a weighted sum of six sub-indices that are derived from Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) data, PMI comments trackers and PMI commodity price and supply indicators that are compiled by S&P Global.
    — Arthur Zaczkiewicz, Footwear News, 12 Oct. 2026
  • The broad market's rise lifted some components of the S & P 500 – notably a few energy stocks – into overbought territory, based on the relative strength index (RSI), a momentum indicator that tracks the velocity and size of price changes.
    — Tobias Burns, CNBC, 10 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • Despite being published nearly fifty years later, Love Days tolls the same alarm bells as The Story of Avis.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 5 Oct. 2026
  • Church bells tolled across the country when Leo’s charter flight landed at Paris’ Orly airport, and more than a million people are expected to turn out to see him.
    — Nicole Winfield, Los Angeles Times, 25 Sep. 2026
Noun
  • This guy might steal because the pitcher is such a ding-dong at getting the ball to the plate, for example.
    — Grant Brisbee, New York Times, 28 Sep. 2026
  • Hopefully, now this kid can stop being a moody ass little ding-dong about it.
    — Maggie Fremont, Vulture, 8 May 2026
Noun
  • With resurgent inflation and traders weighing the Fed's next move, any signal on the rate path could ripple through the equities, bond and currency markets.
    — Lim Hui Jie, CNBC, 16 Oct. 2026
  • When the device rotates, the frequencies of these signals shift slightly relative to each other.
    — Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 15 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • Bruce Blakeman, the Republican challenger in the gubernatorial race, also chimed on Mamdani's statement.
    — Jesse Zanger, CBS News, 7 Oct. 2026
  • The loud-mouthed cameos from ex-soccer players Zlatan Ibrahimović and Eric Cantona in Nike’s World Cup hero film Rip the Script were indicative of this, chiming with an older, more arrogant vision of Nike seen in the ’90s and the aughts.
    — Joe Bobowicz, Vogue, 2 Oct. 2026
Noun
  • Cloudy chords, meditative tintinnabulation, the whoosh of wind and rain, blocks of iridescent brass — all these discrete sonorities trundled by, like a train of boxcars with panoramas painted on their sides.
    — Justin Davidson, Vulture, 22 Sep. 2025
  • Shivaree, chthonian, erumpent, tintinnabulation, exonumia, requiescat, deipnosophist, omphaloskepsis, horripilation, deliquesce, apopemptic.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 26 Oct. 2021

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Cite this Entry

“Knell.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/knell. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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