Word of the Day: Sink
The word “sink” can be either a noun or a verb.
As a verb, it’s irregular and changes as follows:
| simple | past | past participle |
|---|---|---|
|
sink
|
sank
|
sunk
|
In this first set of examples, the verb “sink” means to go down, usually in water or some sort of soft material.
- Their boat is sinking.
- Our feet sank in the wet mud.
- The house is starting to sink on one side.
- The submarine was sunk by a torpedo fired by an enemy ship.
- Robb sank his teeth into a large hamburger.
“Sink” is also used when a person loses hope or experiences tragedy.
- Astrid’s heart sank when she heard the bad news.
- She got a sinking feeling that something bad had happened. (In this sentence, “sinking” is an adjective.)
- In sports such as basketball or golf, “sink” is used when a ball goes through a net or a hole:
- He hopes to sink this putt.
- Basketball players try to sink the ball through the net.
You can also use “sink” when making an investment:
- They sank $100,000 of their money into a business.
- Rhonda and Troy don’t want to sink any more money into their house because they might move.
- Sinking thousands of dollars into the stock market is a bad idea if you don’t know what you are doing.
The word “sink” can also be a noun. A sink looks like this:
- Bill shaves every morning in front of the bathroom sink.
- The kitchen sink is full of dishes that need to be washed.
- Rinse those dirty dishes in the sink before you put them in the dishwasher.
Essential English Dictionary
Visit the Popular English Words Beginning with S page to see the list of all words starting with letter S. For seeing the HiCafe dictionary, visit the Popular English Words with Meaning page.
