Definition of Knell

knell (noun) - the sound of a bell rung slowly to announce a death or a funeral or the end of something

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How can knell be used in a sentence?

  1. It is the death knell of civilization and civility.

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  2. That will be the death knell of the value of the Dollar.

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  3. BBC World Service cuts: 'This is the death knell' - video

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  4. The term is a death knell for big audiences and big prizes.

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  5. They are a potential death knell for Barack Obama's presidency.

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  6. His black boots rang on the pavement, sounding like a death knell.

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  7. West Ham in Olympic Stadium will be 'death knell' for Leyton Orient

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  8. Yet it is far too early to sound the death knell for Argentine liberty.

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  9. Obama will be signing the death knell of the American Space Program. keny

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  10. Manks language, which they call her knell; after which Christmas begins. "

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  11. Yet it was not in any way the death knell of the opposition to this regime.

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  12. But the death knell sounded years ago with the rise of the personal computer.

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  13. An Obama victory on November 4 would be the death knell of the Bradley Effect.

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  14. McCain's selection of Sarah Palin was the death knell of the past election cycle.

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  15. And he is a member of the LDS, which is a death knell in the republican primaries.

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  16. The whole Constellation program spells the death knell of the American Manned Space Program.

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  17. Should we mourn Time, the magazine that sounded feminism's death knell too many times for me to recall?

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  18. The 5-4 decision, sounding the death knell for Chicago's handgun ban, tracks precisely the vote in Heller.

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  19. Superior's chief executive officer, Tim Jochner agrees that Community Express was not Innovative's death knell.

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  20. The death knell in her coffin was Couric's question about a "Bush Doctrine" that the press itself had not defined.

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  21. This is of course connected with "knell," though the only Kneller who has become famous was a German named Kniller.

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  22. BTW, if there ever is a country wide ban on lead pellets in shotgun shells it will be the death knell for shotgunners.

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  23. The move, according to senior Wall Street executives, was akin to a death knell for the firm, which was just about on life support already.

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  24. An unpunished Gaddafi would sound a death knell for the Arab spring, the end of this democratic movement and the immense hope it had raised.

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  25. Reps also note that "The Office" is an ensemble show so the loss of a single character, albeit a significant one, isn't necessarily a death knell.

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  26. As a side note, at least this Supreme Court decision just means that the death-knell of the economic and politically elite will come sooner, ala revolution.

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  27. In Massachusetts, where Scott Brown's victory was supposedly the penultimate death knell of the president's agenda, Obama still maintains a 56 percent approval rating.

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  28. Instead, the bill calls for regulators to spend the next two years "studying" how proprietary trading by federally insured banks should be handled, a sure death knell for any action.

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  29. What I can say, however, is that the final knell of any hope this country might possibly have entertained -- with "entertained" being the operative double-meaning term -- was clanging loud.

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  30. But all agreed, even those few who still like her, that the selection of Sarah Palin as McCain's running mate may have proved a death knell to the McCain campaign even before the epic financial crisis.

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  31. But what also unites these three developments concerning race and genetics a decade after the tolling of its death knell is the stunning lack of regulation concerning the questionable claims being made.

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  32. Sadly, this sounds like the death-knell of what should have been one of the most persuasive arguments for man in space: hitting recalcitrant unmanned vehicles with rubber hammers until they behave themselves.

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  33. I suspect the site may linger a bit beyond tomorrow -- there are some paid ads on it that deserve to stay up until their run is completed -- but it definitely sounds as though a death knell has been sounded over there.

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  34. "This surely sounds the death knell for these ill-conceived plans," added Burnham, who said that Lansley's failure to win the backing of both the BMA and the Royal College of GPs meant David Cameron should put the plans on hold.

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  35. The sweeping victory of Barack Obama ushers in a new era of leadership that will affect every aspect of American institutions and that sounds a death knell for the top-down, power-oriented leadership prevalent in the 20th century.

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  36. The latest death knell, not unexpected but still a shock when it sounded, came late this week when ABC confirmed that the venerable, iconic All My Children and the similarly long-running One Life to Live had been taken off life support.

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  37. Here in the United States, the California desert's Mountain Pass area was once the largest source of rare earth minerals in the world, until an environmental spill (sound familiar?) and aggressive Chinese pricing sounded the death knell of American rare earth mining.

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  38. When they had gone from house to house and collected all the money they could, they laid the wren on a bier and carried it in procession to the parish churchyard, where they made a grave and buried it "with the utmost solemnity, singing dirges over her in the Manks language, which they call her knell; after which Christmas begins."

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  39. For their part, since George H.W. Bush uttered the words Voodoo Economics in his failed efforts to derail the Reagan Revolution, the unholy alliance of tax-cutting Republicans and big-spending Republicans marked the death knell of that party's claim to the moral high ground in matters of fiscal propriety, while neo-conservatives brought to the GOP an evangelical fervor to change the world that was once a Democratic credo.

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Tips for Using knell in a Sentence

You may have an easier time writing sentences with knell if you know what words are likely to come before or after it, or simply what words are often found in the same sentence.

Frequent Predecessors

Words that often come before knell in sentences. For example: "death knell" or "the knell"

  • death
  • the
  • a
  • funeral
  • his
  • its
  • their
  • wedding
  • and
  • solemn

Frequent Successors

Words that often come after knell in sentences. For example: "knell of" or "knell for"

  • of
  • for
  • .
  • to
  • in
  • is
  • was
  • and
  • on
  • that

Associated Words

Words that aren't necessarily predecessors or successors, but are often found in the same sentence.

  • tolling
  • sounded
  • ayr
  • ming
  • geographic
  • bell
  • funeral
  • ceo
  • seattle
  • painter

Alternate Definitions

  • knell (verb) - ring as in announcing death
  • knell (noun) - the sound caused by striking a bell; especially, the sound of a bell rung with solemn slowness at or for a funeral; a passing-bell
  • knell (noun) - the stroke of a bell tolled at a funeral or at the death of a person; a death signal; a passing bell
A sentence using knell