Phrase guide

tubular bells

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌtjuːbjʊlə ˈbɛlz/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈt͡ʃuː-/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /-bjə-/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˌt(j)ubjələɹ ˈbɛlz/
  • General-American: /-bju-/
  • rhymes with -ɛlz

1

noun

Meaning 1

A percussion instrument consisting of a set of tuned metal tubes that are struck with a mallet, producing sounds like those of church bells.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: plural, plural-normally

Topics: entertainment, lifestyle, music

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: chimes, tubular chimes

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From tubular (adjective) + bells.

Across languages

Translations

31 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: آلة إيقاعية — percussion instrument consisting of tuned metal tubes
  • Asturian: campanes tubulares — percussion instrument consisting of tuned metal tubes
  • Basque: ezkila tubular — percussion instrument consisting of tuned metal tubes
  • Bulgarian: оркестрови камбани (orkestrovi kambani) — percussion instrument consisting of tuned metal tubes
  • Catalan: campana tubular — percussion instrument consisting of tuned metal tubes
  • Chinese Mandarin: 管鐘 /管钟 (guǎnzhōng) — percussion instrument consisting of tuned metal tubes
  • Danish: rørklokker — percussion instrument consisting of tuned metal tubes
  • Dutch: buisklokken — percussion instrument consisting of tuned metal tubes
  • Finnish: putkikellot — percussion instrument consisting of tuned metal tubes
  • French: carillon tubulaire — percussion instrument consisting of tuned metal tubes
  • French: cloches d'orchestre — percussion instrument consisting of tuned metal tubes
  • French: cloche tubulaire — percussion instrument consisting of tuned metal tubes
  • German: Röhrenglocken — percussion instrument consisting of tuned metal tubes
  • Hebrew: צ׳יימס — percussion instrument consisting of tuned metal tubes
  • Hungarian: csőharang — percussion instrument consisting of tuned metal tubes
  • Indonesian: lonceng tabung — percussion instrument consisting of tuned metal tubes
  • Irish: clogfheadáin — percussion instrument consisting of tuned metal tubes
  • Italian: campane tubolari — percussion instrument consisting of tuned metal tubes
  • Japanese: チューブラーベル (chūburāberu) — percussion instrument consisting of tuned metal tubes
  • Korean: 튜블러 벨 (tyubeulleo bel) — percussion instrument consisting of tuned metal tubes
  • Norwegian Bokmål: rørklokker — percussion instrument consisting of tuned metal tubes
  • Persian: ناقوس لولهای — percussion instrument consisting of tuned metal tubes
  • Polish: dzwony rurowe — percussion instrument consisting of tuned metal tubes
  • Portuguese: sinos tubulares — percussion instrument consisting of tuned metal tubes
  • Portuguese: carrilhão de orquestra — percussion instrument consisting of tuned metal tubes
  • Romanian: clopote tubulare — percussion instrument consisting of tuned metal tubes
  • Russian: оркестро́вые ко́локола (orkestróvyje kólokola) — percussion instrument consisting of tuned metal tubes
  • Spanish: campanas tubulares — percussion instrument consisting of tuned metal tubes
  • Swedish: rörklockor — percussion instrument consisting of tuned metal tubes
  • Ukrainian: о́ркестро́ві дзво́ни (órkestróvi dzvóny) — percussion instrument consisting of tuned metal tubes
  • Uzbek: orkestr qoʻngʻiroqlari — percussion instrument consisting of tuned metal tubes