have a/the ring of (something)
have a/the ring of (something)
To sound like or appear to have some characteristic, such as veracity. What she's saying has a ring of truth to it, but I'm not totally convinced. The novel has the ring of autobiography, even though the author claims it is purely fictional. Her article had a ring of fatalism about it, painting a bleak picture of the future of our planet.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.