sank
SANGK/sæŋk/
- 1Past tense of sink.
The old ferry sank within minutes of striking the reef.
Her heart sank when she read the final line of the letter.
Note
The form belongs to the simple past alone. The perfect takes sunk, so the ship has sunk, never has sank, while sunken survives mostly as an adjective (a sunken wreck). The same past form serves both directions of the verb: the ferry sank, a torpedo sank the ferry, she sank the winning putt. It also covers the figurative heart that sank on hearing bad news.
sank is a form of sink
sink, verb: To descend below the surface of a liquid or similar substance, or to cause something to do so. Full entry
- Spelling
- sink → sank: irregular (no -ed)
Use it in a sentence
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