Skip to main content
unringing

unringing

9.8
The stopping of a bell or alarm sound
  • noun
  • /ʌnˈrɪŋɪŋ/
translation icon : silencio
  • The unringing of the church bells marked the end of the service.

Examples

  • After a long day, the unringing of the phone brought her much-needed peace.

  • There's no unringing that particular bell, so we might as well sing along with it.

    Blog text (31)
  • His decision felt like an unringing of the joyful sounds from their celebration.

Antonyms

430 1.0

To make a clear sound like a bell that can be heard far away

Surface Forms

unringing singular
unringings plural

Morphology

unringing = ringing (semi-transparent) = un + ring + ing

Formed by 'un-' + the gerund 'ringing'; while the negation 'not ringing' is clear, the intended nuance 'the process of stopping a ringing sound' requires reading 'un-' as a reversal, which may be less predictable for learners.

Etymology

Unringing is made from un- ('not') and ringing, and as a noun it means the act of stopping a bell, phone, or alarm from ringing. So the unringing of something is the process of making it 'not ringing'.