kitchen sink
Syllables: kit·chen sinkUK/ˌkɪt͡ʃ(ɪ)n ˈsɪŋk/US/ˌkɪt͡ʃ(ə)n ˈsɪŋk/
kitchen sink noun: a sink in a kitchen used for washing crockery, cutlery, utensils, food, etc., and disposing of waste.
Noun
kitchen sink (plural kitchen sinks)
- A sink in a kitchen used for washing crockery, cutlery, utensils, food, etc., and disposing of waste.
- The kitchen sink was piled high with dirty dishes.
- The present trouble centres round the kitchen sink. It is cracked and leaks.1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC
- A miscellaneous item or a miscellany, especially exemplifying an indiscriminate profusion.
- They threw the kitchen sink at the problem, but still couldn’t fix it.
- The April 1994 issue of Washingtonian ran an article by my friend Andrew Ferguson about corporate "multicultural training". Andy quoted one of the trainers (or facilitators, as they like to be called), whose job it is to instill "sensitivity" about age, race, gender, disability, sexual orientation...1994, P[atrick] J[ake] O’Rourke, “Fashionable Worries: If Meat is Murder, are Eggs Rape?”, in All the Trouble in the World: The Lighter Side of Famine, Pestilence, Destruction and Death, London...
- In chained or tied to the kitchen sink, etc.: domestic chores or housework, especially when regarded as menial and tedious.
- A thing regarded as defiled due to corruption, immorality, etc.
- Jack used to be a clever man, though I say so who shouldn't. Government has eaten him up. All his ideas and powers of conversation—he really used to be a good talker, even to his wife, in the old days—are taken from him by this—this kitchen-sink of a Government. That's the case with every man up...[1889 January], Rudyard Kipling, “The Education of Otis Yeere. I. Showing How the Great Idea was Born.”, in Under the Deodars (A. H. Wheeler & Co.’s Indian Railway Library; no. 4), Allahabad, Uttar...
Adjective
kitchen sink (not comparable)
- Of or pertaining to a mid-20th-century realist style of painting in Britain characterized by scenes of dull or untidy domestic interiors such as kitchens in the homes of urban working-class people; also, of or pertaining to an artist or group of artists painting in this style.
- It is evident that neither objectivity nor abstraction is the aim of the young painters of the kitchen-sink school.1954 December, David Sylvester, “The Kitchen Sink”, in Stephen Spender, Irving Kristol, editors, Encounter, London: Encounter Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 62, column 2
- [T]here are a number of instances of [John] Berger promoting the four artists known as the Beaux Arts Quartet, or the Kitchen Sink painters—John Bratby, Jack Smith, Edward Middleditch and Derrick Greaves.2004 autumn, Adrian Clark, “Two British Art Patrons of the 1940s and 1950s: Sir Colin Anderson and Peter Watson”, in The British Art Journal, volume V, number 2, London: Art Journals, →ISSN, →JSTOR...
- Of or pertaining to a mid-20th-century (especially 1950s–1960s) genre of drama, fiction, etc., in Britain depicting the harsh lives of working-class people; also, of or pertaining to a film, novel, play, etc., of this genre.
Verb
kitchen sink (third-person singular simple present kitchen sinks, present participle kitchen sinking, simple past and past participle kitchen sinked)
- To make (something) overly complicated or elaborate; to overcomplicate, to overwork.
- To raise to (someone) unrelated complaints and other matters during an argument.
- To release (a large amount of information about the poor financial results of a company) in one go, in the hope that there will be less impact.
- To raise unrelated complaints and other matters during an argument.
kitchen sink meaning in Tamil
kitchen sink in Tamil
- சமயலறைக் கழுவு தொட்டி, சமையலறைக் கழுவு தொட்டி, சமையலறைத்தொட்டி, சமயலறைத் தொட்டி
Examples of kitchen sink in a sentence
- Decide how big a challenge you want, then choose your cards to find out which of the crazy items – everything from a spare tire to the kitchen sink – you need to cram in.2007 November, LeapFrog Enterprises, “Top Toys”, in Caroline Connell, editor, Today’s Parent, volume 24, number 11, Toronto, Ont.: St....
- The home and domesticity were the main subjects of "kitchen sink" painting, a short-lived style of realism active in London between 1952 and 1957.2019 May 31, Abi Shapiro, “The Kitchen Sink Too”, in British Art Studies, number 12, London: Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art...
Forms of kitchen sink
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | kitchen sinks |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | kitchen sinks |
| present participle | kitchen sinking |
| past participle | kitchen sinked |
| past | kitchen sinked |
Origin of kitchen sink
The noun is derived from kitchen + sink. Sense 2.1 (“miscellaneous item or miscellany”) is probably from everything but the kitchen sink. The adjective is derived from the noun. Sense 1 (“of or pertaining to a realist style of painting characterized by scenes of dull or untidy domestic interiors of urban working-class people”) was coined by the British art critic David Sylvester (1924–2001) in a December 1954 article entitled “The Kitchen Sink”: see the quotation. The verb is a back-formation from kitchen-sinking (noun), which is derived from the noun.
Words formed from kitchen sink
Words that rhyme with kitchen sink
Questions about kitchen sink
- What does kitchen sink mean?
- Kitchen sink means a sink in a kitchen used for washing crockery, cutlery, utensils, food, etc., and disposing of waste.
- What is kitchen sink in Tamil?
- Kitchen sink in Tamil is சமயலறைக் கழுவு தொட்டி, சமையலறைக் கழுவு தொட்டி, சமையலறைத்தொட்டி. See Kitchen sink meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use kitchen sink in a sentence?
- Decide how big a challenge you want, then choose your cards to find out which of the crazy items – everything from a spare tire to the kitchen sink – you need to cram in.
- What part of speech is kitchen sink?
- Kitchen sink can be a noun, an adjective or a verb.
- How do you pronounce kitchen sink?
- Kitchen sink is pronounced /ˌkɪt͡ʃ(ɪ)n ˈsɪŋk/ (UK).
- What is the plural of kitchen sink?
- The plural of kitchen sink is kitchen sinks.
Words near kitchen sink in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: kitchen sink (page history and authors); kitchen sink (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-kitchen sink.ogg.
Cite this entry: “kitchen sink.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/kitchen_sink. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.