Meaning

Something that clangs; an alarm bell (also figuratively)..

Definitions by Sense

1. Something that clangs; an alarm bell (also figuratively).
2. The clapper of a bell, anything that strikes a bell or other metal object to make a ringing sound.
3. (chiefly UK, Commonwealth, Ireland, informal, often in the phrase drop a clanger) A very noticeable mistake; an attention-getting faux pas.
4. (Australia, Australian rules football) A mistake made by a player; counted in the game statistics in the category "errors including frees against".
5. An early hi-hat consisting of cymbals mounted on the rim of a bass drum and struck with an arm on the drum's pedal.
6. (Australia, entomology) A cicada, Psaltoda claripennis, of New South Wales and Queensland, having an upper body of green and brown and clear wings with green veins.
7. Short for Bedfordshire clanger.

Example Sentences

The front and patio doors are bugged. When you open one a contact breaks and off goes the clanger.

The conversation was hard-going; we didn't click at all, but then he dropped the clanger: Beazley has done a lunch with Maxine McKew and ‘It will be read as he wants to come back. Our people want to go big with it.’

Anyway, this clanger sounds. We put out our smokes, shoulder our packs, put on our helmets. The drill was that you turned around and handed your rifle to the guy behind you who then attached it to your pack while you attached the rifle of the guy in front of you to his pack.

I dismounted and walked over to Pelleas. “You may remember me, my Lord,” I said. “You once made me a knife from a bell clanger. I am Morgan, Queen of Galloway.”

The clanger was made out of the same material, and attached to a chain at one end. The idea was to stick the clanger in the opening of the triangle and start circulating, whacking the triangle on all three sides as fast as you could.

He showed me where to pull the clanger, and I pulled and pulled and the clanging joined the music of the bombardment.

In his speech, the best man got the bride's name wrong. What a clanger!

He dropped a real clanger when he criticized the paraplegic for not standing.

Word Forms

• clangers

Synonyms for clanger

Related Words

When Should You Use Clanger?

Use clanger when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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