sink

SINGK/sɪŋk/

33 meanings of sink

1
nouncountable
A bowl-shaped basin in a kitchen or bathroom used for washing things.
Like a big bowl built into the counter where you wash things.
She filled the sink with warm water before washing the dishes.
He splashed cold water on his face at the bathroom sink.
Similarbasin, washbasin
2
verbintransitive
To go down below the surface of water or another liquid, or to make something do this.
Like a stone dropping straight to the bottom of a pond.
The heavy stone began to sink the moment it hit the pond.
Wooden boats rarely sink in calm water.
Similardescend, drop, settle, fall
Oppositefloat, rise, surface
Note
3
verbtransitive
To make a boat or ship go under the water until it is lost.
Like letting a paper boat fill with water until it goes under.
The torpedo could sink a battleship in minutes.
Pirates threatened to sink the merchant ship and steal its cargo.
Similarscuttle
Oppositeraise, refloat
4
nouncountable
A drain that carries dirty water away from a building.
Like the drain in a street that takes rainwater away.
The old factory emptied its waste into a stone sink beneath the floor.
Water from the yard ran into a covered sink by the gate.
Similardrain, sewer
5
verbfigurativelyintransitive
To suddenly feel sad, worried, or full of dread.
Like your stomach dropping when something goes wrong.
My heart sank when I saw the test results.
Her spirits began to sink as the bad news spread.
Similarfall, flag, fade, wane, plummet
Oppositerise, soar, lift
Note
6
verbtransitive
To hit a ball into a pocket or hole, as in pool or golf.
Like dropping a marble straight into a small hole.
She managed to sink the black ball and win the game.
He sank a long putt on the final hole.
Similarpot, hole, make
Oppositemiss
Note
7
verbtransitive
To push something firmly into a softer material or surface.
Like pushing a stick deep into soft mud.
Workers sink the posts into the ground before pouring concrete.
She sank her teeth into the ripe apple.
Similardrive, plunge, thrust, bury, embed
Oppositewithdraw, extract
Note
8
nouncountable
A place or thing that takes in and holds resources or energy.
Like a sponge that soaks up water and holds it.
A forest acts as a natural sink for carbon dioxide.
The ocean is a huge sink that absorbs heat from the air.
Similarreservoir
Oppositesource
Note
9
verbintransitive
To slowly go down in level or amount, like a river after rain.
Like a puddle slowly shrinking on a hot day.
The river began to sink after weeks without rain.
Floodwaters slowly sank back into the dry ground.
Similarfall, drop, subside, recede, dip
Oppositerise, swell, climb
Note
10
verbfigurativelytransitive
To make something or someone become worse, weaker, or less respected.
Like a heavy weight dragging something down.
The scandal could sink his political career.
Bad reviews sank the company's reputation overnight.
Similarruin, wreck, torpedo, lower, depress
Oppositeboost, lift, raise
Note

11
verbtransitive
To make a deep hole or shaft by digging downward.
Like digging straight down to make a deep hole for water.
The miners had to sink a new shaft to reach the coal.
They sank a well behind the farmhouse last summer.
Similardrill, bore, dig, excavate
Note
12
nouncountable
A part that draws heat away from something to keep it cool.
Like a cold metal block that soaks up heat and lets it escape.
The processor has a metal sink to stop it from overheating.
A small fan blows air across the sink to cool the chip.
13
verbintransitive
To lose strength or hope and feel beaten down.
Like a candle flame slowly fading until it goes out.
The patient continued to sink despite the doctors' efforts.
As the siege wore on, the defenders' spirits sank and their strength failed.
Similarweaken, fail, decline, deteriorate, fade
Oppositerally, recover, improve
Note
14
verbintransitive
To lower yourself by doing something shameful or below your standards.
Like choosing to crawl in the mud instead of standing tall.
I never thought he would sink so low as to steal from his friends.
She refused to sink to their level during the argument.
Similarstoop, descend, resort
Note
15
nouncountable
A hole in the ground formed when the surface collapses into a hollow below.
Like the ground caving in when a hidden hollow underneath gives way.
A huge sink opened up in the middle of the road overnight.
Heavy rain caused a sink to form in the farmer's field.
Note
16
nouncountable
A low place in the ground where water gathers and has no way out.
Like a bowl in the ground that catches rain but never lets it run off.
Rainwater pooled in the sink at the bottom of the valley.
The desert sink held water only after heavy storms.
Similarbasin, depression, hollow
17
verbslangtransitive
To drink something, especially alcohol, often quickly.
Like gulping down a whole glass of juice in one go.
They sink a few beers after every match.
He sank his pint in one long gulp.
Similardown, drink, swig, chug
Note
18
nouncountable
In a network, the end point where things are meant to arrive.
Like the last stop on a bus route, where everyone gets off.
In the model, the factory is the source and the store is the sink.
Goods flow through the network until they reach the sink.
Oppositesource
Note
19
nouncountable
In a diagram of arrows, a point that arrows only point to, never away from.
Like a room you can walk into but never out of.
Follow any arrow and you eventually reach a sink.
A sink cannot lead anywhere else in the graph.
Oppositesource
Note
20
nouncountable
In nature, a place where animals cannot breed enough to survive, so it relies on newcomers from elsewhere.
Like a town where more people die than are born, kept alive only by new arrivals.
The polluted marsh became a sink that survived only because fish kept swimming in from the river.
Without animals moving in, the sink would soon be empty.
Oppositesource
Note
21
nouncountable
In computer programs, a part that catches signals or events when they happen.
Like a basket that catches every ball thrown at it.
The program sends each click to a sink that records it.
We added a sink to catch the error messages.
Oppositesource
Note
22
noununcountable
A downward movement, or the act of going lower.
Like the way a stone slowly drops to the bottom of a pond.
You could feel the slow sink of the boat into the mud.
The steady sink of the sun below the hills marked the day's end.
Similardescent, subsidence, settling
Oppositerise, ascent
Note
23
noununcountable
In baseball, the sudden drop of a sinker pitch as it nears the batter.
Like a paper plane that suddenly dips just before it lands.
His fastball has so much sink that batters keep hitting it into the ground.
The pitch lost its sink and sailed over the plate.
Similardrop
Note
24
nouncountable
In a video game, a way to take money out of the game so prices stay steady.
Like taking some water out of a full tub so it doesn't overflow.
The game added a repair fee as a money sink to slow inflation.
Buying houses became the main sink for player gold.
Oppositefaucet
Note
25
nouncountable
A dirty, miserable place where bad or hopeless people live.
Like a drain where all the dirty water of a place collects.
The old docks had become a sink where the desperate gathered.
They called the slum a sink of crime and disease.
Similarcesspool, den, pit, cesspit
Note
26
nouncountable
In a theater, a trapdoor in the stage used to move scenery up or down.
Like an elevator hidden in the floor that carries scenery down out of sight.
The painted forest dropped out of sight through the sink.
Stagehands lowered the throne using the sink beneath the boards.
Note
27
nouncountable
In mining, a hole dug down into the ground that is smaller than a shaft.
Like a small test hole dug before making a much bigger one.
The miners dug a narrow sink to test the rock below.
Water seeped into the shallow sink they had cut.
Note
28
nouncountable
In old printing, a low spot in a metal plate that does not print clearly.
Like a dent in a stamp that leaves a faint mark on the paper.
A small sink in the plate left a pale patch on every page.
The printer filed down the metal around the sink.
Similardepression
29
verbarchaicintransitive
To die or come to the end of life.
Like a candle flame slowly going out.
The old knight sank quietly before the dawn.
He feared he would sink before help arrived.
Similardie, perish, expire, succumb, pass
Note
30
verbarchaictransitive
To hide something, hold it back, or pay no attention to it.
Like pushing something under the water so no one can see it.
They agreed to sink their differences and work together.
He sank the bad news and said nothing to the family.
Note
31
verbarchaic
To secretly keep money or things that belong to someone else.
If you are sent with ready money to buy anything at a shop, and happen at that time to be out of pocket, sink the money, and take up the goods on your master's account.
1726, Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels
32
verbslang
To spend money on something and not get it back.
33
verbarchaic
To pay back some or all of a debt.

Practice

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Origin

From Old English sincan, going back through Proto-Germanic and Proto-Indo-European roots meaning "to fall, sink."