How to use sponge in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, verb

Sponge means any of various marine invertebrates of the phylum Porifera, that have a porous skeleton often of silica. Example: “He has been sponging off his friends for a month now.”

Examples of sponge by meaning

nounA piece of porous material used for washing (originally made from the invertebrates, now often made of plastic).

The elder woman returned with dressings and a sponge, which she placed on a chair.1913, Robert Barr, chapter 5, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad

nounA type of light cake.

After six hours of work I got this amazing sponge with fresh strawberries, crème fraîche, crème chantilly, custard, crumble and meringues, something quite rich and outstanding.2021 June 10, Marianna Giusti, “Kean Etro: ‘We basically turned paper into trees’”, in Financial Times, London: The Financial Times Ltd....

nounA person who readily absorbs ideas.

For this reason, we need to think of our children as sponges of information and watch their sources carefully.2014, Phoeve Hutchison, Are You Listening? Life Is Talking to You!, page 145

nounA mop for cleaning the bore of a cannon after a discharge. It consists of a cylinder of wood, covered with sheepskin...

The great guns ranged along the deck — each bound fast by its new breechings — with their linstocks and sponges and ladles and rammers, made no idle show of warlike strength.1923, Charles Boardman Hawes, The Dark Frigate, Chapter 6

verbTo take advantage of the kindness of others.

He has been sponging off his friends for a month now.

verbTo get by imposition; to scrounge.

to sponge a breakfast

verbTo use a piece of wild sponge as a tool when foraging for food.

Why do dolphins sponge instead of foraging in a more "normal" way?2013, Pamela S. Turner, The Dolphins of Shark Bay, page 22
Sponging is worth thinking about in some detail because it illustrates many of the challenges and sources of controversy in studying social learning and culture in wild cetaceans.2015, Hal Whitehead, Luke Rendell, The Cultural Lives of Whales and, page 109
Moreover, the females that do it seem to "sponge" relentlessly throughout the day, hunting more than other females and more than male spongers too.2017, Janet Mann, Deep Thinkers: Inside the Minds of Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises, page 153

More sentences with sponge

The lack of a sponge count was an omission by the surgical team.From the entry omission
When you’ve finished with the sponge, just plonk it back in the sink.From the entry plonk
Sponges are porous so they can filter water while trapping food.From the entry porous
The ground was so dry it sponged up all that rain.From the entry sponge up
The sponge showed remarkable absorption of water.From the entry absorption
The drops of water slowly absorbed into the dry sponge.From the entry absorb
A sponge soaks up water; the skin soaks in moisture.From the entry soak
The nurse bathed his wound with a sponge.From the entry bathe
She felt she was standing in front of a fire hose of instructions, trying to absorb them all with a sponge.From the entry fire hose
The dry soil sucked up water like a sponge.From the entry suck up
Ladyfingers soaked in liqueur are the base of tiramisu, but I suppose you could just cut up a sponge cake instead.From the entry ladyfinger
Put things where you will use them: sponges next to the sink, knives next to the cutting board, and so on.From the entry and so on
I made a sponge cake the other day. It was a disaster: I forgot the baking powder! It didn't rise!From the entry sponge cake
This sponge gets used to clean cars.From the entry get used
You have to sponge up the roller with cold water.From the entry sponge up
Hey guys, in this video I'll show you how I make my upside-down sponge cake. First, let's get our ingredients weighed out.From the entry our
Hey guys, in this video I'll show you how I make my upside-down sponge cake. There are lots of recipes for these, but ours is the best.From the entry ours
Another culinary disagreement arose when Sue defined lammingtons as squares of sponge cake coated in red jelly.2021, Pat Manser, More Than Words: The Making of the Macquarie Dictionary, Sydney: Macquarie Dictionary, page 33. From the entry jelly cake
Stuck with you sponging off her and not even a decent shafting for her trouble.2018, Sarah Phelps, 23:00, in Ordeal by Innocence, episode 2, spoken by Mickey Argyle (Christian Cooke). From the entry shaft
Dip your sponge into the water, tehn turn it over and dip it again.2016 October 10, Ann Pelo, The Language of Art: Inquiry-Based Studio Practices in Early Childhood Settings, Redleaf Press, →ISBN, →LCCN…. From the entry squeeze
The sponge tip will not cause injury to the lips or gums.2016, Douglas Scharre, Long-Term Management of Dementia, page 145. From the entry toothette
Similarly, marine sponge metabolite hymenialdisine was found to be a potent inhibitor of IL-2 and TNF-α production.2015 October 1, “Evaluation of the Anti-Inflammatory, Antioxidant and Immunomodulatory Effects of the Organic Extract of the Red Sea…. From the entry hymenialdisine
The sponge itself is not the conventional Victoria but a thin and sumptuous joconde.2015 June 24, Anucyia Victor, quoting Brendan Lynch, “A dessert fit for the Queen! […]”, in Daily Mail, London: DMG Media, →ISSN, →OCLC…. From the entry joconde
His disguise was a fluff of whipped cream and the fool was served with sponge fingers.2014, Lindsey Bareham, Just One Pot. From the entry fool
But Aka is also found in skeletons of hexactinellids and lithistids in Jurassic sponge mounds.2012, Joachim Reitner, Helmut Keupp, editors, Fossil and Recent Sponges, page 5. From the entry hexactinellid
When wet sanding, use a wet (not dripping) sponge to smooth out taped areas.2012, Myron R. Ferguson, Drywall: Professional Techniques for Great Results, →ISBN, page 132. From the entry wet sand
For a larger wet sanding job, use a high-density polyurethane sponge made specifically for this purpose.2012, Myron R. Ferguson, Drywall: Professional Techniques for Great Results, →ISBN, page 131. From the entry wet sanding
Liam studies giant sea sponges, some of them two meters tall; a man could crawl within them.2011, Prism International, volume 50, page 19. From the entry pitroom
A long-handled mopholder fitted with a coarse carriage sponge will facilitate the cleaning of the latter.2009, Various, The Complete Home, →ISBN. From the entry mopholder
The deli’s fruit cake, six-inch Victorian sponge and 50p flapjack also inspire joy.2009 November 9, Adriaane Pielou, “The Boundary Hotel, London: five modern luxury hotels”, in The Daily Telegraph, London: Telegraph Media…. From the entry Victorian sponge
He had sincere ambition, and he would soak up information like a "ShamWOW" sponge.2008, Jeff Zahratka, Sweepers Sweepers Man Your Brooms: An Enlisted Man's Story, page 167. From the entry ShamWow

Meaning of sponge

noun Any of various marine invertebrates of the phylum Porifera, that have a porous skeleton often of silica.
noun A piece of porous material used for washing (originally made from the invertebrates, now often made of plastic).
noun The porous material that synthetic washing sponges are made of.

Full definition of sponge

Questions about sponge in a sentence

How do you use sponge in a sentence?: Sponge is used as a noun and verb. For example: “He has been sponging off his friends for a month now.”
What is a short sentence with sponge?: “to sponge a breakfast”
What does sponge mean?: Sponge means any of various marine invertebrates of the phylum Porifera, that have a porous skeleton often of silica.

Adapted from Wiktionary: sponge (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

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