bells
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of bells
1965–70; by shortening of the full phrase, as in shorts from short pants
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A survey by the polling firm Datafolha published on April 11 sent alarm bells ringing throughout the Lula camp.
From Barron's • Apr. 24, 2026
“Once they started having people in interim housing for nine months or a year, that should have rang some alarm bells, because that’s just not sustainable,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 5, 2026
The people filling up trucks, trains, planes and ships with jet fuel, diesel or fuel oil are ringing alarm bells.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 27, 2026
But the alarm bells are ringing within OpenAI’s offices too, which have been locked in “code red” mode since December.
From Slate • Mar. 25, 2026
Smiling is bad for T-bone playing, and so we have to break to laugh, slides on their stops, bells down.
From "Muffled" by Jennifer Gennari
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
