How to use tinkle in a sentence

23 example sentences · verb, noun

Tinkle means to make light metallic sounds, rather like a very small bell. Example: “The glasses tinkled together as they were placed on the table.”

Examples of tinkle by meaning

verbTo make light metallic sounds, rather like a very small bell.

The glasses tinkled together as they were placed on the table.
With a sound like tinkling bells, far off in a land of shepherds hidden by some hill, the waters of many fountains turned again home.1906, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], Time and the Gods, London: William Heineman, →OCLC, page 1
Outside, the crickets and the tree-frogs started to zing and tinkle and the great hawkmoths came to the wire-netting across the windows and clutched it, gazing with trembling ecstasy at the two oil lamps that hung from the cross-beams inside.1954, Ian Fleming, “The Undertaker's Wind”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 186

verbTo indicate, signal, etc. by tinkling.

The butler tinkled dinner.

nounA light metallic sound, resembling the tinkling of bells or wind chimes.

She laughed, her voice a tinkle in the silence of the circular chamber.1966, James Workman, The Mad Emperor, Melbourne, Sydney: Scripts, page 97
There were no sounds of any movement upstairs: no shouts, no sleepy grumbles, only a gentle tinkle from the decorations as the tree had recovered from the collision.1994, Stephen Fry, chapter 2, in The Hippopotamus

nounA telephone call.

Give me a tinkle when you arrive.

More sentences with tinkle

The wind chimes tinkled musically in the breeze.From the entry musically
Her dainty feet were covered with toerings and tinkling anklets while glass bangles covered her arms.2005, Ira Pande, Diddi: My Mother's Voice, Penguin, published 2005, →ISBN, page 120. From the entry toering
Tinkle, your son’s rambunctious behavior is quite common in children with unusually high intelligence levels.2002 May 1, Jeffrey J. Rowland, Wigu Adventures, archived from the original on 06 Jan 2009. From the entry rambunctious
When we land I'll give you a tinkle on the telling bone.1998, The Spectator, London. From the entry telling bone
It is an intolerable sound that sets spoons tinkling in saucers and windowpanes vibrating.1971, William S. Burroughs, The Wild Boys: A Book of the Dead, page 4. From the entry intolerable
He preferred, he said, bells, glockenspiels, dulcitones, and marimbas—anything that would whoop, tinkle, and glide with abandon.1969, 100 Famous Australian Lives, page 299. From the entry dulcitone
The bottle cap rasped as she unscrewed it and glugged some Bailey's into her mug, the spoon tinkling as she stirred.2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 281. From the entry glug
Grants, or the homely, rustic tinkle of a wheelbarrow full of rubies being jounced along over a nightclub floor.1957, The Monthly Record, volume 61, page 22. From the entry ruby
Having turned about, he kept his horse to a walk, and at this gait the sleighbells tinkled but intermittently.1918, Booth Tarkington, chapter 7, in The Magnificent Ambersons. From the entry wanly
Undervoicing the flame, there was the popping of hollow weed stalks, the tinkle of woody stems crisping and falling in coals.1902, Martha McCulloch-Williams, Next to the Ground: Chronicles of a Countryside, page 74. From the entry undervoice
The ball rolled straight as a die toward the caddy who was holding the flag, and tinkled into the cup for a birdie three!1921 March, Octavus Roy Cohen, “Follow Through”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LXXII, number 2, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey…. From the entry caddy
"Now, new research suggests urination may function in a similar way: Captive chimpanzees that saw their peers peeing were more likely to take a tinkle themselves."2025 January 21, Sarah Kuta, “For Chimpanzees, Peeing May Be Contagious—Just Like Yawning Is for Humans, Study Finds”, in Smithsonian…. From the entry take a tinkle
Whose arrival was fanfared with a rip-roarer of a belch, one of such thunderous proportions that the crystal of the chandeliers tinkled and the glass in the windows rattled.2010, Gregory Dark, Charming!, →ISBN, page 25. From the entry fanfare
They browsed with noses in the frost, and from all around came the tinkle of tiny bells on the curly-horned rams, and an endless variety of bleats.1910, Zane Grey, The Heritage of the Desert. From the entry browse
After we climbed out the window, Vera went behind a bush to take a tinkle, I tried to follow her, but she pushed me back and then giggled a little.2010, Edward H’ Wolf, “The Light inside the Darkness” (chapter 12), in Secluded Mansion Nights, Trafford Publishing, →ISBN, page 101. From the entry take a tinkle
The air was confused with the sweet babel of its many spires, some of them booming deep, measured sequences, some tinkling impatiently and outwitting others which had begun before them.1911 October 26, Max Beerbohm, Zuleika Dobson, or, An Oxford Love Story, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: John Lane Company…. From the entry cleave

Meaning of tinkle

verb To make light metallic sounds, rather like a very small bell.
verb To cause to tinkle.
verb To indicate, signal, etc. by tinkling.

Full definition of tinkle

Questions about tinkle in a sentence

How do you use tinkle in a sentence?: Tinkle is used as a verb and noun. For example: “The glasses tinkled together as they were placed on the table.”
What is a short sentence with tinkle?: “The butler tinkled dinner.”
What does tinkle mean?: Tinkle means to make light metallic sounds, rather like a very small bell.

Adapted from Wiktionary: tinkle (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 tinkle in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/tinkle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.