sink
/ˈsɪŋk/ verb B1- To 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.
- To (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.
- To 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.
- To make by digging or delving. · to sink a well in the ground
- To pot; hit a ball into a pocket or hole.
- To experience apprehension, disappointment, dread, or momentary depression.
- To cause to decline; to depress or degrade. · to sink one's reputation
- To demean or lower oneself; to do something below one's status, standards, or morals.
He/she/it sinks · Past sank · Past participle sunk · -ing form sinking
Verb forms
- Base form
- sink
- He/she/it
- sinks
- Past
- sank
- Past participle
- sunk
- -ing form
- sinking
An irregular verb: learn its past and past participle by heart.
Phrasal verbs and expressions
From the library
The moon was sinking behind the hills and the lines of trembling monkeys huddled together on the walls and battlements looked like ragged shaky fringes of things.
Rachel says she thought she would sink through the floor when she saw you come in all rigged out like that.
And then, when I was leaning over the bridge, it just slipped through my fingers--so--and went down--down--down, all purply-sparkling, and sank forevermore beneath the Lake of Shining Waters.
At sight of her Anne tried to scramble to her feet, but sank back again with a sharp little cry of pain.
Other matches
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