Word.ws English Dictionary

sinking or swimming

sinking or swimming is the present participle and gerund of sink or swim.

Meaning of sink or swim

Verb

sink or swim (third-person singular simple present sinks or swims, present participle sinking or swimming, simple past sank or swam, past participle sunk or swum)

  1. (idiomatic) To succeed through one's own efforts without support, or else fail completely.
    • "No matter, we are going, live or die, sink or swim; and I shall expect to meet you, all booted and spurred and fit for the fight, April first," said the unwavering Amanda.1872, Louisa May Alcott, chapter 1, in Shawl-Straps

Questions about sinking or swimming

What is sinking or swimming the present participle and gerund of?
Sinking or swimming is the present participle and gerund of sink or swim.

Words near sinking or swimming in the dictionary

  1. sinking feelings
  2. sinking fund
  3. sinking funds
  4. sinking heart
  5. sinking in
  6. sinking or swimming
  7. sinking ship
  8. sinking ships
  9. sinkings
  10. Sinkinson
  11. Sinkler

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sinking or swimming (page history and authors); sink or swim (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.

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Cite this entry: “sinking or swimming.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sinking_or_swimming. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.