Clanger
noun, slang ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Something that clangs; an alarm bell (also figuratively).
"The front and patio doors are bugged. When you open one a contact breaks and off goes the clanger."
- 2 Short for Bedfordshire clanger. abbreviation, alt-of
- 3 a conspicuous mistake whose effects seem to reverberate wordnet
- 4 The clapper of a bell, anything that strikes a bell or other metal object to make a ringing sound.
"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.”"
- 5 A very noticeable mistake; an attention-getting faux pas. Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, informal
"In his speech, the best man got the bride's name wrong. What a clanger!"
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- 6 A mistake made by a player; counted in the game statistics in the category "errors including frees against". Australia
"Geelong could not get their running game going and lapsed into clanger after clanger."
- 7 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.
- 8 A cicada, Psaltoda claripennis, of New South Wales and Queensland, having an upper body of green and brown and clear wings with green veins. Australia
Example
More examples"The front and patio doors are bugged. When you open one a contact breaks and off goes the clanger."
Etymology
From clang (“loud ringing sound”) + -er.
Shortening of Bedfordshire clanger.
Related phrases
More for "clanger"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.