English · Idiom Attested

saved by the bell

In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

Narrowly saved.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Được cứu kịp thời

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

' Saved by the bell, I think, ' he murmured wryly.

Remember the KOs by Bonecrusher Smith, Tim Witherspoon, Mike Tyson and that saved - by - the - bell escape from Jumbo Cummings in an early bout?

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: Personification (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).

Common questions

What does “saved by the bell” mean?

Narrowly saved.

Is “saved by the bell” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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