Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular presenttense sinks, present participle sinking, past tense sank, past participle sunk
1. countable noun
A sink is a large fixed container in a kitchen, with taps to supply water. It is mainly used for washing dishes.
The sink was full of dirty dishes.
...the kitchen sink.
Synonyms: basin, washbasin, hand basin, wash-hand basin More Synonyms of sink
2. countable noun
A sink is the same as a washbasin or , basin.
The bathroom is furnished with 2 toilets, 2 showers, and 2 sinks.
3. verb
If a boat sinks or if someone or something sinks it, it disappears below the surface of a mass of water.
In a naval battle your aim is to sink the enemy's ship. [VERB noun]
The boat was beginning to sink fast. [VERB]
The lifeboat crashed against the side of the sinking ship. [VERB-ing]
Synonyms: go down, founder, go under, submerge More Synonyms of sink
sinkingWord forms: plural sinkingscountable noun
...the sinking of the Titanic. [+ of]
4. verb
If something sinks, it disappears below the surface of a mass of water.
A fresh egg will sink and an old egg will float. [VERB]
5. verb
If something sinks, it moves slowly downwards.
Far off to the west the sun was sinking. [VERB]
When they came to build the southern spire the foundations began to sink. [VERB]
Synonyms: descend, lower, go down, dip More Synonyms of sink
6. verb
If you sink, you move into a lower position, for example by sitting down in a chair or kneeling.
[written]
Kate laughed, and sank down again to her seat. [VERB adverb/preposition]
She sank into an armchair and crossed her legs. [VERB adverb/preposition]
'Don't you understand?' I moaned, sinking dramatically to my knees. [VERB adverb/preposition]
Synonyms: slump, drop, flop, collapse More Synonyms of sink
7. verb
If something sinksto a lower level or standard, it falls to that level or standard.
Share prices would have sunk–hurting small and big investors. [VERB]
Pay increases have sunk to around seven per cent. [V + to/from/by]
The pound sank by nearly one per cent against the US dollar. [VERB amount]
Synonyms: fall, drop, decline, slip More Synonyms of sink
8. adjective [ADJECTIVE noun]
People use sink school or sink estate to refer to a school or housing estate that is in a very poor area with few resources.
[British, journalism]
...unemployed teenagers from sink estates.
He has transformed the local sink schools into beacons of hope for parents and children.
9. verb
If your voice sinks, it becomes quieter.
[written]
Her voice sank, and he moved closer to catch what she was saying. [VERB]
Her voice had sunk to a whisper. [Vto/into n]
Synonyms: drop, fall, get lower, get softer More Synonyms of sink
10. verb
To sinkinto an unpleasant or undesirable mood, situation, or state means to pass gradually into it.
[written]
She'd sometimes sink into depression. [VERBinto noun]
That night he sank into a deep coma. [VERBinto noun]
Bulgaria's economy has sunk into chaos. [VERBinto noun]
11. verb
If your heart or your spirits sink, you become depressed or lose hope.
My heart sank because I thought he was going to dump me for another girl. [VERB]
Her spirits sank lower and lower. [VERB]
12. verb
If something sharp sinks or is sunkinto something solid, it goes deeply into it.
He sinks the needle into my arm. [VERB noun into noun]
I sank my teeth into a peppermint cream. [VERB noun + into]
The spade sank into a clump of overgrown bushes. [VERB + into]
13. verb
If someone sinks a well, mine, or other large hole, they make a deep hole in the ground, usually bydigging or drilling.
...the site where Stephenson sank his first mineshaft. [VERB noun]
If they carry on sinking boreholes then the land is likely to subside. [VERB noun]
...a one-thousand foot deep hole sunk into the rock. [VERB-ed]
Synonyms: dig, bore, drill, drive More Synonyms of sink
14. verb
If you sink money into a business or project, you spend money on it in the hope of making more money.
He has already sunk $25million into the project. [VERB noun + into]
Synonyms: invest, put in, plough, risk More Synonyms of sink
15. verb
If someone sinks a number of alcoholic drinks, they drink them quickly.
[British, informal]
She sank two glasses of white wine. [VERB noun]
Synonyms: drink, down [informal], knock back, neck [slang] More Synonyms of sink
16. verb
In golf, snooker, and some other games, if you sink a ball or a putt, you successfully hit the ball into a hole.
He sank two crucial putts in the last three holes. [VERB noun]
17. See also sinking, sunk
18.
See sink or swim
19. to sink without trace
Phrasal verbs:
See sink in
More Synonyms of sink
sink in British English
(sɪŋk)
verbWord forms: sinks, sinking, sank, sunk or sunken
1.
to descend or cause to descend, esp beneath the surface of a liquid or soft substance
2. (intransitive)
to appear to move down towards or descend below the horizon
3. (intransitive)
to slope downwards; dip
4. (intr; often foll by in or into)
to pass into or gradually enter a specified lower state or condition
to sink into apathy
5.
to make or become lower in volume, pitch, etc
6.
to make or become lower in value, price, etc
7. (intransitive)
to become weaker in health, strength, etc
8.
to decline or cause to decline in moral value, worth, etc
9. (intransitive)
to seep or penetrate
10. (transitive)
to suppress or conceal
he sank his worries in drink
11. (transitive)
to dig, cut, drill, bore, or excavate (a hole, shaft, etc)
12. (transitive)
to drive into the ground
to sink a stake
13. (tr; usually foll by in or into)
a.
to invest (money)
b.
to lose (money) in an unwise or unfortunate investment
14. (transitive)
to pay (a debt)
15. (intransitive)
to become hollow; cave in
his cheeks had sunk during his illness
16. (transitive)
to hit, throw, or propel (a ball) into a hole, basket, pocket, etc
she sank a 15-foot putt
17. (transitive) British informal
to drink, esp quickly
he sank three pints in half an hour
18. sink or swim
noun
19.
a fixed basin, esp in a kitchen, made of stone, earthenware, metal, etc, used for washing
20. sinkhole
21. another word for cesspool
22.
a place of vice or corruption
23.
an area of ground below that of the surrounding land, where water collects
24. physics
a device or part of a system at which energy is removed from the system
a heat sink
adjective
25. informal
(of a housing estate or school) deprived or having low standards of achievement
Derived forms
sinkable (ˈsinkable)
adjective
Word origin
Old English sincan; related to Old Norse sökkva to sink, Gothic siggan, Old High German sincan, Swedish sjunka
sink in American English
(sɪŋk)
verb intransitiveWord forms: sank or sunk, sunk, ˈsinking
1.
to go beneath the surface of water, deep snow, soft ground, etc. so as to be partly or completely covered
2.
to go down slowly; fall or descend gradually
3.
to appear to fall or descend
the sun sinking in the west
4.
a.
to become lower in level; diminish in height or depth
a lake that has sunk three inches
b.
to slope downward (from, to, etc.)
5.
to diminish or decrease in degree, volume, or strength; subside, as wind, flames, a sound, spirits, etc.
6.
to become lower in value or amount; lessen, as prices, funds, etc.
7.
to seem or become hollow or shrunken; recede, as the cheeks or eyes
8.
to pass gradually (into sleep, despair, lethargy, etc.)
9.
to become increasingly and dangerously ill; approach death; fail
10.
a.
to lose position, wealth, prestige, dignity, etc.
b.
to lose or abandon one's moral values and stoop (to some unworthy action)
11.
to become absorbed; penetrate
verb transitive
12.
to cause to submerge or go beneath the surface
to sink a boat, to sink a spade into the ground
13.
to cause or allow to fall or go down; lower
14.
to make (a well, mine, engraved design, etc.) by digging, drilling, or cutting
15.
to cause to penetrate or become absorbed
16.
to reduce in volume, amount, degree, or intensity
17.
a.
to invest (money, capital, etc.)
b.
to lose by investing
18.
to hold back, suppress, or conceal (evidence, identity, personal interests, etc.)
19.
to pay up (a debt)
20.
a.
to cause to lose courage, strength, etc. or position, dignity, etc.
b.
to debase (character, dignity, etc.)
21.
to defeat; undo; ruin
22. US, Sport
to put (a basketball, golf ball, etc.) through the net, into the cup, etc. so as to score
noun
23.
a cesspool or sewer
24.
any place or thing considered morally filthy or corrupted
25.
any of various basins, as in a kitchen or laundry, connected with a drainpipe and, usually, a water supply
26.
a repository or device for collecting, removing, or absorbing energy, heat, a specific substance,etc. from a system and then disposing of or dissipating it
27. US, Geology
a.
an area of slightly sunken land, esp. one in which water collects, often forming a salt lake, or disappearsby evaporation or percolation into the ground
b.
sinkhole (sense 2)
Idioms:
sink in
Derived forms
sinkable (ˈsinkable)
adjective
Word origin
ME sinken < OE sincan, akin to Ger sinken < IE base *sengw-, to fall, sink > Gr heaphthē, (he) sank
More idioms containing
sink
everything but the kitchen sink
leave someone to sink or swim
Examples of 'sink' in a sentence
sink
The heart must sink at either prospect.
The Times Literary Supplement (2010)
They also have two large toes on their hooves that stop them sinking into deep snow.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
Then leaving the sinking boat far behind he waded with powerful strides back to the shore.
Barrett, Clive The Gods of Asgard (1989)
It sank into the ground like a rock through custard.
Francis Pryor BRITAIN BC: Life In Britain and Ireland before the Romans (2003)
The term comes from golf and concerns a sudden inability to sink short putts.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
You cannot wash your face in the bathroom sink without splashing your toes.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
It was very easy to sink very deeply in the sand.
The Sun (2012)
Oil sank to its lowest in four years.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
He says that winning the championship last year is still only gradually sinking in.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
The affair has sunk below the surface.
George Eliot Daniel Deronda (1876)
To get a drink he would walk up to the kitchen sink.
The Sun (2016)
Thousands of parents would find there was an alternative to the sink school.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
Ship sank like stone as passengers slept.
The Sun (2006)
It has left a sinking feeling in my heart.
The Sun (2014)
My heart sinks when each bill arrives.
The Sun (2015)
Chilean engineers had been sinking holes all over the site in the hope of finding the missing miners.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
The aircraft descended into a wetland area and had since been forgotten about as it sank below the surface.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
Have credit cards oiled the wheels of the economy or just allowed us to sink deeper and deeper into debt?
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
But her approval rating sank fast.
Grenville, J. A. S. The Collins History of the World in the 20th Century (1994)
The sink was always full of washing-up.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
The pictures show unmade beds, a squalid sitting room and a kitchen sink piled with dirty dishes.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Gradually I was aware of the sun sinking and the heat going out of the day.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
Their collection of battle medals would sink a battleship (if we have any left).
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
In other languages
sink
British English: sink /sɪŋk/ NOUN
A sink is a basin with taps that supply water.
There were dirty dishes in the sink.
American English: sink
Arabic: بَالُّوعَة
Brazilian Portuguese: pia
Chinese: 水池
Croatian: sudoper
Czech: dřez
Danish: vask
Dutch: gootsteen
European Spanish: fregadero
Finnish: pesuallas
French: évier
German: Spüle
Greek: νεροχύτης
Italian: lavandino
Japanese: シンク
Korean: 개수대
Norwegian: vask
Polish: zlew
European Portuguese: lava-loiças
Romanian: chiuvetă
Russian: раковина
Latin American Spanish: fregadero
Swedish: diskho
Thai: อ่างสำหรับล้าง
Turkish: lavabo
Ukrainian: раковина
Vietnamese: bồn rửa
British English: sink /sɪŋk/ VERB
If a boat sinks, or if something sinks it, it disappears below the surface of a mass of water.
In a naval battle your aim is to sink the enemy's ship.
American English: sink
Arabic: يَغْرَقُ
Brazilian Portuguese: afundar-se
Chinese: 下沉
Croatian: potonuti
Czech: potopit se loď
Danish: synke
Dutch: zinken
European Spanish: hundirse
Finnish: upottaa
French: couler sous l’eau
German: sinken
Greek: βουλιάζω
Italian: affondare
Japanese: 膿瘻
Korean: 가라앉다
Norwegian: synke
Polish: zatonąć
European Portuguese: afundar-se
Romanian: a se scufunda
Russian: тонуть
Latin American Spanish: hundirse
Swedish: sjunka
Thai: จม
Turkish: batmak
Ukrainian: тонути
Vietnamese: chìm xuống
All related terms of 'sink'
sink in
When a statement or fact sinks in , you finally understand or realize it fully .
dry sink
a kitchen cabinet with a shallow basin on top for holding a dishpan, used esp. in the U.S. in the 19th cent.
heat sink
a metal plate specially designed to conduct and radiate heat from an electrical component
sink tidy
a container with holes in the bottom , kept in the sink to retain rubbish that might clog the plug hole
sink unit
a fitted unit that consists of a sink , draining board and cupboards underneath
slop sink
a deep sink for filling and emptying scrub pails, washing out mops , etc.
carbon sink
an area of vegetation , esp a forest , or a phytoplankton-rich sea that absorbs the carbon dioxide produced by the burning of fossil fuels
kitchen sink
a sink in a kitchen for washing dishes , vegetables , etc
sink or swim
If you say that someone will have to sink or swim , you mean that they will have to succeed through their own efforts , or fail .
behavioural sink
a small area in which people or animals live in overcrowded conditions
kitchen-sink drama
a type of drama of the 1950s depicting the sordid aspects of domestic reality
sink a borehole
To sink a borehole means to drill a deep hole in the ground.
everything but the kitchen sink
very many things, many of which are unnecessary
leave someone to sink or swim
to leave someone to do something on their own, with their success or failure depending entirely on their own efforts or abilities
to sink without trace sink without a trace
If you say that someone or something sinks without trace or sinks without a trace , you mean that they stop existing or stop being successful very suddenly and completely.