death knell

American  

noun

1. a harbinger of the end, death, or destruction of something.

2. passing bell.

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death knell British  

noun

1. something that heralds death or destruction

2. a bell rung to announce a death

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death knell Idioms  

1. Something that indicates impending failure, as in His low scores sounded the death knell for his ambitions. The noun knell, used for the ringing of a bell since at least a.d. 1000, is rarely heard today except in this figurative phrase.

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Example Sentences

My hunch is that many who are making this false claim about the stocks-bonds correlation are overly fixated on the 60/40 portfolio’s 2022 loss, believing that a loss that large sounded the portfolio’s death knell.

From MarketWatch • Jan. 15, 2026

Expectations for dividend cuts are typically a death knell for stocks.

From Barron's • Jan. 12, 2026

It marks the death knell of the post–World War II settlement that, however imperfect, wrestled the anarchy of war into a framework designed to condition armed aggression on legal justification.

From Slate • Jan. 5, 2026

“In California, that’s not a death knell, that’s a life force.”

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 8, 2025

Consequently, we do not have to wait until the publication of Geoffroy’s table in 1718 to hear the death knell of alchemy.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton