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• For Whom the Bell Tolls
  For Whom the Bell Tolls

  noun

  a novel (1940) by Ernest Hemingway.
• for whom the bell tolls
  for whom the bell tolls

  An expression from a sermon by John Donne. Donne says that because we are all part of mankind, any person's death is a loss to all of us: “Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” The line also suggests that we all will die: the bell will toll for each one of us. (See No man is an island.)

For Whom the Bell Tolls

American  

noun

1. a novel (1940) by Ernest Hemingway.

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for whom the bell tolls Cultural  

1. An expression from a sermon by John Donne. Donne says that because we are all part of mankind, any person's death is a loss to all of us: “Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” The line also suggests that we all will die: the bell will toll for each one of us. (See No man is an island.)

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The twentieth-century American author Ernest Hemingway named a novel For Whom the Bell Tolls; the book is set during the Spanish Civil War.

Example Sentences

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For Whom the Bell Tolls for whom the bell tolls

John McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls HBO encores this recent documentary profiling the late U.S. senator, Navy pilot, Vietnam veteran and former POW.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2018

Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls provides a good idea of the difference in prices.

From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2018

When Ernest Hemingway’s now-classic novel For Whom the Bell Tolls was released, exactly 75 years ago on Wednesday, the author’s fans had some cause to tamp down their expectations.

From Time ● Oct. 21, 2015

American writer Ernest Hemingway lived in Cuba on and off for years and worked on some of his most famous books here, including "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and "The Old Man and the Sea."

From US News ● Jul. 21, 2015

A heated discussion ensued, at the end of which Hairy kept For Whom the Bell Tolls, Four-Eyes took The Blonde in the Bathtub, and Hairy threw the rest away.

From Freudian Slip by Franklin Abel

Most will have also encountered the moving words that soon follow: “never send to know for whom the bell tolls; / It tolls for thee.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 23, 2026

On the radio on Monday, someone quoted the poet John Donne’s injunction to ask not for whom the bell tolls, because “it tolls for thee.”

From New York Times ● Sep. 19, 2022

We hardly need to ask for whom the bell tolls.

From Salon ● Dec. 28, 2021

In other words, ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for "whom."

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 7, 2012

Ask not for whom the bell tolls, Baggs: it tolls for thee.

From The Guardian ● Dec. 9, 2010