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Glite Dictionary
⚰️ A final end 🔔 A funeral bell
death knell

death knell

8.3
A bell rung to announce someone's death
  • noun
  • /dɛθ nɛl/
translation icon : campana de la muerte
  • Don't ignore the death knell of this trend!
  • rang the death knell

Examples

  • The rise of digital media was the death knell for many print newspapers.

  • The death knell rang out.

  • He heard the death knell from the church tower as he passed by.

  • The closing of the local factory sounded the death knell for the town's economy.

  • The report confirmed that the new regulations would serve as the death knell for outdated practices in the industry.

  • For many small businesses, the pandemic acted as a death knell that forced them to close permanently.

  • The final sword fight in the movie signaled the death knell for the villain's reign of terror.

Synonyms

nail in the coffin
vsdeath knell
  • Informal
11 6.3

A last action that makes something fail completely

is a sign or event marking the end rather than only the final contributing action
death bell
vsdeath knell
1 8.0

A bell that a church or community rings to tell people someone has died

is broader, meaning an event or sign that marks an end rather than a bell
deathblow to
vsdeath knell
  • Informal
7.6

An action or event that ends something completely

signals or marks the end without necessarily causing the destruction

Surface Forms

death knell singular
death knells plural

Morphology

death + knell

The phrase is directly compositional: a 'knell' is a bell sound signaling death, so a 'death knell' naturally denotes a signal that something is dying or coming to an end. Although 'knell' is somewhat rare/dated, if a learner knows both constituent meanings the metaphorical extension to 'a sign of the end' is straightforward and predictable.

Etymology

Death knell comes from the slow bell, the knell, that people rang at funerals to announce that someone had died. Because that bell marked a clear end, people now use death knell to mean 'a sign that something is finished or will soon end'.