[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/bel.html)

[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [dictionaries](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/) / [The school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/) / bel

[← B](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/B/)

# bel

«bel» in Mova's school dictionary: **or comparing power levels; one bel is ten decibels** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

noun (a bel, bels); name (Bel — a name)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A unit for measuring how loud a sound is or comparing power levels; one bel is ten decibels. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bel/#m1)

2) (a name) Bel, a short form of names like Isabel or Belinda. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bel/#m2)

3) In old stories, Bel is the name of an ancient Babylonian god (Bible: «Bel and the Dragon»). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bel/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In science lessons on sound, you nearly always meet the decibel (dB), which is one tenth of a bel; the bel itself is rarely used. It was named after Alexander Graham Bell, who worked on the telephone. In everyday life «Bel» is usually a nickname.

### examples

- One bel equals ten decibels. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bel/#x1)
- Sound levels are usually measured in decibels, not bels. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bel/#x2)
- The bel was named after Alexander Graham Bell. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bel/#x3)
- My friend Isabel likes to be called Bel. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bel/#x4)
- A whisper is about two bels, or twenty decibels. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bel/#x5)
- In the Bible story, Daniel showed that the idol Bel did not really eat food. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bel/#x6)

### note

Countable: a bel, bels; symbol B. Usually lower case as a unit, capital as a name. Homophone trap: «bel» sounds like «bell» (which rings). In maths: to change bels to decibels, multiply by 10 (3 bels = 30 dB). Each extra bel means ten times more sound power.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «bel» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bel/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.