ring a bell
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
Familiar but details unclear.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
J R Hartley is one of those names which rings a bell but you can't quite place it until you see the face — and then you remember the television commercial.
I've heard a figure of about five hundred and I just wondered if that rings a bell as being reasonable with you?
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “ring a bell” mean?
Familiar but details unclear.
Is “ring a bell” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.