Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use wink in a sentence

40 example sentences · verb, noun

Wink means to close one's eyes in sleep. Example: “He winked at me. She winked her eye. He winked his assent.”

Examples of wink by meaning

verbTo blink with only one eye as a message, signal, or suggestion, usually with an implication of conspiracy. (When...

  • He winked at me. She winked her eye. He winked his assent.
  • Oliver saw Kit Carson wink at the lieutenant and Lucien Maxwell, as the speech reached them, and it was evident that these three leaders did not believe the Indian tales.1912, Edwin L. Sabin, chapter VIII, in With Carson and Frémont

verbTo gleam fitfully or intermittently; to twinkle; to flicker.

  • Her kitchen is a series of Still Lives; the copper pans wink on the walls.1920, Katherine Mansfield, Letter to Richard Murray (ca. September 19), Vincent O. Sullivan & Margaret Scott, The Collected Letters of...

nounA brief period of sleep; especially forty winks.

  • I shouldn't sleep a wink for thinking of him.1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “chapter 25”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC
  • I shan't sleep a wink.1953, Dalton Trumbo, Ian McLellan Hunter, John Dighton, Roman Holiday, spoken by Princess Ann (Audrey Hepburn)

nounA subtle allusion.

  • The film includes a wink to wartime rationing.

More sentences with wink

  • She gave me a wink afterwards, so I knew she was joking.From the entry give
  • As you’re so tired, why not try to catch forty winks before you leave?From the entry forty winks
  • The three bored, interchangeable booth babes winked and flirted vapidly; he had already forgotten their names.From the entry vapidly
  • I didn't get a wink of sleep. I was tossing and turning all night long.From the entry toss and turn
  • "Her ladyship will be unable to attend tonight," he said, with a wink because he hadn't said why.From the entry ladyship
  • You also can’t beat yourself up for beating yourself up,” I say with a wink.2022, Amanda E. White, Not Drinking Tonight: A Guide to Creating a Sober Life You Love, Hachette Go, →ISBN. From the entry I can't
  • "I mean, purely for theraphy research purposes, of course." She winked at me.2020, Kristy Woodson Harvey, Feels Like Falling, page 311. From the entry decult
  • Avoiding the Taceval man's gaze the 'chiefie' winked and pulled a face.2017, Richard Pike, Phantom Boys, volume 2. From the entry chiefie
  • 'Not that daft if it stops their bommie getting nicked.' Jack winked at Terry.2014, Trevor Hoyle, Down the Figure 7, Hachette UK, →ISBN. From the entry bommie
  • “Then boyfriend or not, it's time you resorted to an unbuttoned blouse, a wink, and some bow-chica-wow-wow.”2014, Eve Langlais, Seth, →ISBN. From the entry bow-chica-wow-wow
  • “Puhlease,” Will added, a wink the only difference between the two.2013, Linda S. Glaz, Always, Abby, Harlequin, →ISBN, pages 75–76. From the entry puhlease
  • He winked at Liza, who monkeyed him, holding her own eye shut.2011, Elizabeth Mosier, The Playgroup, page 83. From the entry monkey
  • He finished this with a wink and a weird finger-pointy thing and walked on.2010, Claire Allan, chapter 29, in It’s Got to Be Perfect, Dublin: Poolbeg, →ISBN, page 245. From the entry finger-pointy
  • That's the kind of stuff that makes people of faith smile — maybe a God wink?2009, Ed Gungor, What Bothers Me Most About Christianity, →ISBN, page 117. From the entry God wink
  • I sneak off behind the crates to grab forty winks where the supervisor can't find me.2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (science fiction), Redwood City, Calif.: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, P.C., scene: Eden Prime. From the entry forty winks
  • In its most vulgarized and solipsistic state, epiphany is what currently is marketed as a God wink.2007, James B. Twitchell, Shopping for God, →ISBN, page 105. From the entry God wink
  • Belinda panicked for a second and then caught Neill just shake his head everso slightly and wink.2006, D. A. Watson, Faraday’s Paperweight, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 66. From the entry everso
  • 'Yeah, lovie,' Dermot winked, 'a free flight is exactly what you won.'2004, David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas, London: Sceptre (Hodder and Stoughton), →ISBN. From the entry lovie
  • My candle winked out as I fell back on my bed.2001, Lynne Kositsky, A Question of Will, Roussan Pub Incorporated, →ISBN. From the entry supergirl
  • Jeff winked his eyes sleepily open and looked out into the cool flush of early morning.1987, Harold Keith, Rifles for Watie, page 256. From the entry orange
  • She winked pertly back at him, proving for all time that she was not a watcher.1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy. From the entry pertly
  • A boy awakening under a plane-tree Whose bark peels every grade of green, With sunwings winking in-between?1984, Francis Scarfe, Grounds for Conceit, page 8. From the entry sunwing
  • The girl winked at the pimp as he slipped out to the hallway.1979, Dale Riepe, The Owl Flies by Day, page 40. From the entry drabble-tail
  • On the long dim landing a wink of light gleamed like an eye in a copper fish-kettle.1975, Philip Glazebrook, The Eye of the Beholder, New York, N.Y.: Atheneum, published 1976, →ISBN, page 39. From the entry fish-kettle
  • And after dinner, with a kindly wink, she bade them accompany the Reverend, who briskly walked hallward.1957 March 7, Vladimir Nabokov, chapter 4.7, in Pnin, Heinemann, page 102. From the entry -ward
  • Olive very quickly said, " A bat, dear," and winked frownfully through the leaves.1909, The Pall Mall Magazine, volume 44. From the entry frownfully
  • Then she looked at Chase and winked, with a meaning nod at the unobserving Deppingham.1908, George Barr McCutcheon, The Man From Brodney's. From the entry unobserving
  • I am tired of these duck-footed Leydeners, who daren't wink at a donkey lest he should bray.1901, H. Rider Haggard, chapter 5, in Lysbeth: A Tale of the Dutch. From the entry duck-footed
  • Boimler, but you and I have a little side quest we need to take care of.” “Ew. don't wink.2024 October 31, Stephanie Amante-Ritter, “The Best Exotic Nanite Hotel” (1:29 from the start), in Star Trek: Lower Decks, season 5…. From the entry sidequest
  • She dramatically increased in scale, and winked coquettishly.2020 October 1, HarryBlank, “The Bowe Decommission, Part One”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 11 Dec 2024. From the entry coquettishly
  • "At your service." She concluded with a sly wink.2019 December 21, WorldWeaver, Radley, “Alabastor: Age of Heroes”, in rpnation.com. From the entry archgrandmaster
  • A middle-aged waitress wearing “Daisy Dukes” whisked by and gave Ham a wink, “Hon, you eatin' or drinkin'?”2017, S. C. Sherman, Lone Wolf Canyon, Post Hill Press, →ISBN. From the entry daisy dukes
  • The audience doesn't like to see you wink.2017 May 16, Jeffrey Tambor, Are You Anybody?: A Memoir, Crown Archetype, →ISBN. From the entry put a hat on a hat
  • I got dozens of winks, she got hundreds.2014, Monica Porter, chapter 7, in Raven: My Year of Dating Dangerously, London: Head of Zeus, →ISBN, page 65. From the entry blondeness

Meaning of wink

  1. verb To close one's eyes in sleep.
  2. verb To close one's eyes.
  3. verb Usually followed by at: to look the other way, to turn a blind eye.

Full definition of wink

Questions about wink in a sentence

How do you use wink in a sentence?
Wink is used as a verb and noun. For example: “He winked at me. She winked her eye. He winked his assent.”
What is a short sentence with wink?
“I shan't sleep a wink.”
What does wink mean?
Wink means to close one's eyes in sleep.

Source and license

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