Meaning & use
knell
The sound of a bell rung slowly and solemnly, especially to announce a death or disaster.
See it in a sentence
The church bell's knell echoed through the village after the old king died.
Some economists see the factory's closure as a knell for the town's manufacturing era.
A note on using this word
Knell is mostly literary today, often used figuratively as in 'death knell' to mean the end of something.
Words with a similar meaning
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Another way to use it
2. verb
To ring slowly and solemnly, as a bell announcing death or doom.
Somewhere in the valley, a single bell knelled through the fog.
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