death knell
5
8.1
- noun
- /dɛθ nɛl/
:
sentencia de muerte
- His resignation was viewed by many as the death knell for the project.
- sounds the death knell
Like that could really, that could have been a death knell for the Bitcoin network.
- Like that could really, that could have been a death knell for the Bitcoin network.
- He laid the death knell for capitalism.
- And they're currently so much better at that than you that it's just a death knell.
- If we stay, will we be forced to sign TTIP, which if we do, will be the death knell of the NHS?
- Marriott in one fell swoop just set the death stage, rang the death knell for Airbnb.
Examples
-
Pundits have again been sounding the death knell for the United Nations.
Academic text (2003) -
In 2004, I thought that Rathergate was the death knell for Old Media.
Blog text (23) -
Someone else mentioned that this is likely the death knell for the Big East.
Blog text (25) -
And that was the death knell of that particular congregation too.
Blog text (8) -
Medical history, in a sense, one could argue, was one factor that helped to sound the death knell of the old regime.
-
If we stay, will we be forced to sign TTIP, which if we do, will be the death knell of the NHS?
-
The unification of the two regions will be a death knell for the minorities in the region.
Academic text (1995) -
Historically, that has always been the death knell of all totalitarian regimes.
Blog text (9) -
Going digital doesn't preclude discussion, nor does it necessarily toll the death knell of the book.
Academic text (2014) -
Within 10 years, two newfangled inventions delivered the final death knell to orchestrions: the amplified radio and the coin-operated phonograph.
Blog text (20)
Synonyms
12
9.9
A slow, sad bell sound that announces a death, funeral, or the end of something
11
6.3
A last action that makes something fail completely
7
6.2
An action or event that causes something to fail completely
An action or event that ends something completely
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
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 originally named the bell rung at a funeral, the loud final sound that marked a person's death. That's why the phrase now means 'an event or sign that shows something is ending or will be finished'.