death rattle

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

"This is the death rattle of a movement that just cannot adapt to a changing world and to a community that is saying, 'We're not hiding in the shadows anymore.'"

From Reuters • Jul. 6, 2023

I think that’s a sort of death scream, as my mom likes to say — a death rattle, where a thing gets louder and more thrashy when its existence is threatened.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 24, 2022

Our basement apartment had orange and yellow walls and a single window-mounted air-conditioner with a permanent death rattle.

From New York Times • May 7, 2021

He had perhaps first detected its death rattle when he suggested to a restaurateur the removal of the apostrophe in a sign advertising the sale of “coffee’s.”

From Washington Post • Apr. 25, 2021

Then, for no apparent reason, he let out a terrible scream, a death rattle such as I had never heard before and, with open mouth, thrust his head toward the still steaming liquid.

From "Night" by Elie Wiesel