have a familiar ring

1. Sound or seem as though one has already heard of something. For example, That story has a familiar ring; I'm sure I've read it before.

Example Sentences

As I noted last year, “claims about nitrogen hypoxia have a familiar ring to them. Over the past century and a quarter, we have heard similar claims made about other ‘innovative’ execution methods, first electrocution, then the gas chamber, and, finally, lethal injection.”

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He deftly captures how the environment is both enchanting and fearsome, and though his set pieces have a familiar ring — bar fights! dangerous animals! — he focuses more on what’s troubling his characters than overselling some myth of rough-and-ready swagger.

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For Banaei at Chainalysis, the troubles that Russians are encountering now have a familiar ring to them — his own family left Iran after the Iranian revolution.

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The business has a traditional enough feel: there are white tiles, a picture of a pig wearing an apron and the names of the products behind the glass counter have a familiar ring: mince, brisket, ribs, chicken thighs, cured pastrami, salami, kebab meat, black pudding, quarter pounder burgers and glazed belly pork.

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Though many of these killings have a familiar ring, it is unfair to blame them all on law enforcement, said Patrick Yoes, a retired sheriff’s office captain and president of the national Fraternal Order of Police.

Read more on New York Times