bell tower

IPA/ˈbel ˌtaʊər/
IPA/ˈbel ˌtaʊ.ɚ/

bell tower — noun

1. a high, narrow tower on a church or public building, built to hold bells that ca

1.nounB1
Definition

a high, narrow tower on a church or public building, built to hold bells that can be rung from inside

Example

Mayumi could hear the old bell tower ringing across the quiet village each evening.

The cathedral's bell tower has stood at the centre of Seville for six hundred years.

collocation: cathedral's bell tower

Common collocations
  • ring the bell tower bells
  • climb the bell tower
  • bell tower chimes
Synonyms
  • campanile

    a tall, usually free-standing bell tower, especially in Italian architecture

  • belfry

    the upper part of a tower where the bells hang; sometimes used for the whole tower

Common Mistakes

The bell tower showed three o'clock.
The clock tower showed three o'clock.
A bell tower holds bells for ringing; a clock tower holds a clock face. Some towers serve both purposes.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

A bell tower is the general, everyday term for any tower that holds bells, typically attached to a church. A campanile is a specific architectural term for a tall, free-standing Italian bell tower — the Leaning Tower of Pisa is a campanile. A belfry is technically the upper chamber where the bells hang, though in casual use it can mean the whole tower. A steeple is different: it is the pointed top of a church, which may or may not contain bells. Use bell tower for everyday speech, campanile when describing Italian architecture, and belfry when pointing out where the bells actually hang.

campanile ↗belfry ↗steeple ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • church bell tower
  • cathedral bell tower
  • bell tower clock

Phrases

  • ring the bells in the bell tower

Prepositions

  • in the bell tower
  • of the bell tower
  • from the bell tower

Etymology

Old EnglishLatinFrenchEnglish

Bell tower combines two Old English words: belle (bell) and torr (tower), the latter borrowed from Latin turris through French. Free-standing bell towers became common in medieval Italy under the name campanile, while bell towers attached to churches spread across Europe from the early Middle Ages onward.

First known use

1596

1596, in the meaning defined above