Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use sink in a sentence

40 example sentences · verb, noun

Sink means to descend or submerge (or to cause to do so) into a liquid or similar substance. Example: “A stone sinks in water. The sun gradually sank in the west.”

Examples of sink by meaning

verbTo 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.

verbTo (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.

verbTo 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.
  • Before installing the new surfacing material, sink any protruding nails.1980, Robert M. Jones, editor, Walls and Ceilings, Time-Life Books, →ISBN, page 11

verbTo make by digging or delving.

  • to sink a well in the ground

verbTo pot; hit a ball into a pocket or hole.

  • I claim some dignity back by potting two of my balls before Tammy sinks the black.2008, Edward Keating, The Joy of Ex: A Novel

verbTo experience apprehension, disappointment, dread, or momentary depression.

  • Peter's heart sank.1915, Thornton W. Burgess, chapter XIX, in The Adventures of Chatterer the Red Squirrel, Boston: Little, Brown, and Company

verbTo cause to decline; to depress or degrade.

  • to sink one's reputation

verbTo demean or lower oneself; to do something below one's status, standards, or morals.

  • Who would sink so low as to steal change from veterans?2013 April 24, Steve Henschel, Niagara This Week

More sentences with sink

  • Clean the sink first, before you even think of starting to cook.From the entry first
  • If the mix is too fluid, the ags can sink away from the surface.From the entry ag
  • There was no sink in the room so we spat out the window.From the entry spat
  • The captain is the last man to leave a sinking ship.From the entry captain
  • The small boat broached and nearly sank, because of the large waves.From the entry broach
  • A whole lot of water is flowing from under the sink.From the entry a lot
  • The captain ordered the immediate jettison of the heavy cargo to save the sinking ship.From the entry jettison
  • His mom is such a neatnik that a dirty dish never even hits her sink.From the entry neatnik
  • He can't wait to sink his teeth into the new project.From the entry sink one's teeth into
  • His two-seamer has a heavy sink and keeps the infielders busy.From the entry two-seam fastball
  • The plumber left his second banana behind, to finish installing my new sink.From the entry second banana
  • A single EXOCET antiship missile can sink a destroyer. Try not to get hit.From the entry antiship
  • When you’ve finished with the sponge, just plonk it back in the sink.From the entry plonk
  • The ship hit a naval mine and sank with all hands.From the entry naval mine
  • Does the sink drip, or have I just spilt water over the floor?From the entry drip
  • He knows he's been naughty, but it will take a while for it to sink in.From the entry sink in
  • The Titanic hit an iceberg and sank on her maiden voyage.From the entry maiden voyage
  • The plastic was a nonporous surface, so the ink couldn't sink in and stain it.From the entry nonporous
  • There was some food residue in the sink, so she washed it down.From the entry wash down
  • After the excitement of Christmas, we quickly sank into postholiday depression.From the entry postholiday
  • I have a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.From the entry sinking feeling
  • The captain was dutybound to see all passengers off the sinking ship before he left it himself.From the entry dutybound
  • The sink is blocked, put a rod down the plug hole and shuggle it about.From the entry shuggle
  • Oh my Goddess, I cannot believe that just crawled out of the sink!From the entry oh my Goddess
  • They threw the kitchen sink at the problem, but still couldn’t fix it.From the entry kitchen sink
  • To his credit, the captain ensured that all passengers were taken off the sinking ship before himself.From the entry to someone's credit
  • There was some food residue in the sink, so she rinsed it down.From the entry rinse down
  • You need to get up into him or he's gonna keep sinking baskets.From the entry get up into
  • The boat sprang a leak and began to sink.From the entry spring
  • The Titanic hit an iceberg and sank.From the entry iceberg
  • The Titanic sank on its maiden voyage.From the entry maiden

Meaning of sink

  1. verb To descend or submerge (or to cause to do so) into a liquid or similar substance.
  2. verb To (directly or indirectly) cause a vessel to sink, generally by making it no longer watertight.
  3. verb To push (something) into something.

Full definition of sink

Questions about sink in a sentence

How do you use sink in a sentence?
Sink is used as a verb and noun. For example: “A stone sinks in water. The sun gradually sank in the west.”
What is a short sentence with sink?
“Peter's heart sank.”
What does sink mean?
Sink means to descend or submerge (or to cause to do so) into a liquid or similar substance.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sink (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use sink in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/sink. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.