tocsin
- noun
- /ˈtɑːksɪn/
- Archaic
- When the fire alarm rang, it served as a tocsin for everyone to evacuate the building.
- sounded the tocsin
Examples
-
Community leaders and Polish diplomats increasingly sounded the tocsin against "denationalization," which in the postwar United States was now Americanization!
Academic text (1999) -
Today they are no less relevant and indeed serve as a tocsin warning against the illusion that cities and nature are mutually exclusive realms.
Academic text (2006) -
"The paper's called The Enterprise-Tocsin," Jack says.
Fiction book (1993) -
From your ranks come the great captains who will hold the nation's destiny in their hands the moment the war tocsin sounds.
-
The tocsin sound of the gong did not dispel his smile.
Fiction book (1997) -
We saw him again during the June days in 1848, impassively finishing his Venus Anadyomene to the sound of the tocsin on the streets of Paris.
Academic text (2006) -
The tocsin sounds every morning to alert the village of the day's events.
-
The tocsin rang loudly, signaling the community to gather for an emergency meeting.
Synonyms
842
1.0
A device that makes a loud sound to warn or wake people
259
2.9
A machine that makes a loud wailing sound to warn people
89
1.0
A device that makes a sound to get someone's attention
7
2.2
A bell that rings to warn people of danger or an emergency
1
3.7
A tool that makes a loud sound or bright light to tell people there is danger
1
2.7
A bell that rings to warn people of danger
Antonyms
How Alarming
Surface Forms
Etymology
Tocsin comes from old French parts toc ('to strike') and signum ('sign' or 'signal'), so it once meant a 'struck signal' like a bell hit to warn people. That's why today a tocsin is a warning bell or alarm.