sink
/ˈsɪŋk/ verb, noun, proper noun
Also a form of cinque
Forms sinks sinking sank sunk sunken
- verb (ergative) To descend or submerge (or to cause to do so) into a liquid or similar substance. “A stone sinks in water. The sun gradually sank in the west.”
- verb (transitive) To (directly or indirectly) cause a vessel to sink, generally by making it no longer watertight. “An iceberg sank the Titanic. British battleships sank the Bismarck.”
- verb (transitive) To push (something) into something. “The joint will hold tighter if you sink a wood screw through both boards. The dog sank its teeth into the delivery man's leg.”
- verb (transitive) To make by digging or delving. “to sink a well in the ground”
- verb (transitive, snooker, pool, billiards, golf) To pot; hit a ball into a pocket or hole.
- verb (intransitive, figuratively, of the heart or spirit) To experience apprehension, disappointment, dread, or momentary depression.
- verb (transitive, figurative) To cause to decline; to depress or degrade. “to sink one's reputation”
- verb (intransitive) To demean or lower oneself; to do something below one's status, standards, or morals.
- noun A basin used for holding water for washing.
- noun A drain for carrying off wastewater.
- noun (geology) A sinkhole.
- noun A depression in land where water collects, with no visible outlet.
- noun A heat sink.
- noun A place that absorbs resources or energy.
- noun (ecology) A habitat that cannot support a population on its own but receives the excess of individuals from some other source.
- noun (uncountable) Descending motion; descent. “An excessive sink rate at touchdown can cause the aircraft's landing gear to collapse.”
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
bury descend founder go down dip dunk submerge debase disparage humble abase bring down to size cut down to size defame degrade demean demote depress discredit disgrace sinkhole swallow hole cesspool cesspit sump drop drop down pass lapse settle
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English synken, from Old English sincan, from Proto-West Germanic *sinkwan, from Proto-Germanic *sinkwaną, from Proto-Indo-European *sengʷ- (“to fall, sink”).
Compare West Frisian sinke, Low German sinken, Dutch zinken, German sinken, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål synke, Swedish sjunka. In the causative sense, it replaced Old English senċan (“make sink”) from Proto-Germanic *sankwijaną.
From the Dutch and northern German surname, from Zink (“cornetto, trumpet-like instrument”).
Webster’s 1913
- verb To fall by, or as by, the force of gravity; to descend lower and lower; to decline gradually; to subside; as, a stone sinks in water; waves rise and sink; the sun sinks in the west.
- verb To enter deeply; to fall or retire beneath or below the surface; to penetrate.
- verb To cause to sink; to put under water; to immerse or submerge in a fluid; as, to sink a ship.
- verb Figuratively: To cause to decline; to depress; to degrade; hence, to ruin irretrievably; to destroy, as by drowping; as, to sink one's reputation.
Etymology [OE. sinken, AS. sincan; akin to D. zinken, OS. sincan, G. sinken, Icel. sökkva, Dan. synke, Sw. sjunka, Goth. siggan, and probably to E. silt. Cf. Silt.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “sink”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details