knell
Americannoun
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the sound made by a bell rung slowly, especially for a death or a funeral.
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a sound or sign announcing the death of a person or the end, extinction, failure, etc., of something.
the knell of parting day.
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any mournful sound.
verb (used without object)
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to sound, as a bell, especially a funeral bell.
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to give forth a mournful, ominous, or warning sound.
verb (used with object)
noun
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the sound of a bell rung to announce a death or a funeral
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something that precipitates or indicates death or destruction
verb
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(intr) to ring a knell
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(tr) to proclaim or announce by or as if by a tolling bell
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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knellsimple
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knellssimple
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have knelledperfect
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has knelledperfect
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am knellingprogressive
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are knellingprogressive
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is knellingprogressive
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have been knellingperfect progressive
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has been knellingperfect progressive
Past
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knelledsimple
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had knelledperfect
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was knellingprogressive
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were knellingprogressive
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had been knellingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of knell
before 950; (noun) Middle English knel, Old English cynll; (v.) Middle English knellen, knyllen, Old English cynllan; cognate with Old Norse knylla to beat, strike; akin to Dutch knal bang, knallen to bang, German Knall explosion, knallen to explode
Explanation
A knell is a ringing sound, particularly from a bell tolled to announce a death or the end of something. Which is kind of depressing. From the Old English cnyll, meaning “sound made by a bell when struck or rung slowly,” comes our modern day knell. It certainly describes the slow, ominous sound of funeral bells, but isn't always used so literally: We often say that a final blow or action that will bring an end to something sounds or signals the death knell. And if you hear a bell knell in your dreams, look out — superstition says that's not a good sign.
Vocabulary lists containing knell
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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.
See Examples For:
If “Superman” had opened to critical and commercial failure, it would have been a death knell for the modern superhero genre as we know it.
From Salon ● Jun. 27, 2026
Changing consumer tastes also spelled the death knell for the retailer, which has struggled like many High Street firms.
From BBC ● Apr. 27, 2026
People on the internet seem to be taking Lindy West’s memoir as millennial feminism’s final death knell.
From Slate ● Mar. 31, 2026
Future Americans will probably spend even more time on digital devices than they do now, but it will not be the death knell of live entertainment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 11, 2026
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
Time magazine tagged her as one of the death knells of feminism, which seems harsh.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 25, 2017
They worked for him at Modern Photography, Holiday, Travel & Leisure, Town & Country and other publications, most of them gone long before the Internet began sounding its knells for the printed page.
From New York Times ● Jun. 13, 2015
Despite the death knells, Luke Donald spent part of the year at No. 1, and after dropping to No. 3, supplanted Woods at No. 2 by December.
From Golf Digest ● Dec. 5, 2012
In 2006, Katyal led a successful Supreme Court case challenging the legality of the Bush Administration's military tribunals in Guant�namo, a ruling that sounded one of the first death knells for Camp X-Ray.
From Time Magazine Archive
My name is John Wellington Wells, I'm a dealer in magic and spells, In blessings and curses And ever-filled purses, In prophecies, witches, and knells.
From The Complete Plays of Gilbert and Sullivan by Gilbert, W. S. (William Schwenck), Sir
All started, as a deep groan knelled in their ears.
From Rookwood by Ainsworth, William Harrison
To-morrow—” He fell silent; again in his heart that parting cadence knelled with keen and intolerable sorrow.
From Stepsons of Light by Rhodes, Eugene Manlove
Of all the strange hours of my life it had knelled none more desperate than this!
From The Claw by Stockley, Cynthia
At the same time the sad "too late, too late," was knelled in my ears, and I thought of the might-have-been, and rode the merry-go-round of regret's banalities.
From The Morals of Marcus Ordeyne : a Novel by Locke, William John
What disaster it was that was thus knelled forth they knew not, and could hardly believe the tidings when given in articulate words.
From Great Britain and Her Queen by Keeling, Annie E.
In every traveler's eulogy there is a strain of elegy, and every traveler hearkens to the raven's knelling cry of "Nevermore."
From Time Magazine Archive
While many of the world's thinkers are worried about the proliferation of births, it is the knelling sound of death that keeps us awake at night.
From Time Magazine Archive
O, very gloomy is the House of Woe, Where tears are falling while the bell is knelling, With all the dark solemnities which show That Death is in the dwelling!
From The Poetical Works of Thomas Hood by Hood, Thomas
For memory dwelling on each proud swelling Of thy belfry knelling its bold notes free, Made the bells of Shandon sound far more grand on The pleasant waters of the River Lee.
From The Ontario Readers: Fourth Book by Ontario. Ministry of Education
With that sentence knelling in her ears, Elizabeth waited till she heard the short cough and the hard breathing of some one toiling heavily up the stair.
From Mistress and Maid by Craik, Dinah Maria Mulock
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.
