different between sink vs lighten

English

Etymology

From Old English sincan, from Proto-Germanic *sinkwan?, from Proto-Indo-European *seng?- (“to fall, sink”). Compare West Frisian sinke, Low German sinken, Dutch zinken, German sinken, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål synke, Swedish sjunka. In the causative sense, it replaced Old English sen?an (“make sink”) from Proto-Germanic *sankwijan?.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /s??k/
• Rhymes: -??k
• Homophones: sync, synch, cinque

Verb

sink (third-person singular simple present sinks, present participle sinking, simple past sank or sunk, past participle sunk or sunken)

2. (heading, physical) To move or be moved into something.
   1. (ergative) To descend or submerge (or to cause to do so) into a liquid or similar substance.

   2. (transitive) To cause a vessel to sink, generally by making it no longer watertight.

   3. (transitive) To push (something) into something.

   4. (transitive) To make by digging or delving.

      to sink a well in the ground

   5. (transitive, snooker, pool, billiards, golf) To pot; hit a ball into a pocket or hole.
      • 2008, Edward Keating, The Joy of Ex: A Novel

        My sister beats me at pool in public a second time. I claim some dignity back by potting two of my balls before Tammy sinks the black.

3. (heading, social) To diminish or be diminished.
   1. (intransitive, figuratively, of the human heart) To experience apprehension, disappointment, dread, or momentary depression.
      • 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, Ch.21:

        I tried, but I could not wake him. This caused me a great fear, and I looked around terrified. Then indeed, my heart sank within me. Beside the bed, as if he had stepped out of the mist, or rather as if the mist had turned into his figure, for it had entirely disappeared, stood a tall, thin man, all in black.

      • 1915, Thornton W. Burgess, The Adventures of Chatterer the Red Squirrel, Little, Brown, and Company, Boston; ch. XIX:

        Peter's heart sank. "Don't you think it is dreadful?" he asked.

   2. (transitive, figuratively) To cause to decline; to depress or degrade.
      • c. 1613, William Shakespeare and John Fletcher, Henry VIII, Act II, scene i:

        And if I have a conscience, let it sink me

      • 1700, Nicholas Rowe The Ambitious Stepmother, Act II, scene ii:

        Thy cruel and unnatural lust of power / Has sunk thy father more than all his years.

   3. (intransitive) To demean or lower oneself; to do something below one's status, standards, or morals.
      • 2013, Steve Henschel, Niagara This Week, April 24:

        Who would sink so low as to steal change from veterans?

4. (transitive, slang, archaic) To conceal and appropriate.
5. (transitive, slang, archaic) To keep out of sight; to suppress; to ignore.
   • 1849 December 15, Frederick William Robertson, Sermon 14, “The Principle of Spiritual Harvest”:

     I say not always dishonorable qualifications, but a certain flexibility of disposition; a certain courtly willingness to sink obnoxious truths, and adapt ourselves to the prejudices of the minds of others […]

6. (transitive, slang) To pay absolutely.

7. (transitive, slang, archaic) To reduce or extinguish by payment.

8. (intransitive) To be overwhelmed or depressed; to fail in strength.

   • I think our country sinks beneath the yoke.
9. (intransitive) To decrease in volume, as a river; to subside; to become diminished in volume or in apparent height.

Usage notes

• Use of sunk for the simple past instead of sank is not uncommon, but may be considered non-standard.

Synonyms

• (descend into a liquid, etc): descend, go down
• (submerge): dip, dunk, submerge
• (cause (ship, etc) to sink):
• (push (something) into):

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

sink (plural sinks)

2. A basin used for holding water for washing.
3. A drain for carrying off wastewater.
4. (geology) A sinkhole.
5. A depression in land where water collects, with no visible outlet.
6. A heat sink.
7. A place that absorbs resources or energy.
8. (ecology) A habitat that cannot support a population on its own but receives the excess of individuals from some other source.
9. (baseball) The motion of a sinker pitch.

   Jones has a two-seamer with heavy sink.

10. (computing, programming) An object or callback that captures events; event sink
11. (graph theory) a destination vertex in a transportation network
12. An abode of degraded persons; a wretched place.
13. A depression in a stereotype plate.
14. (theater) A stage trap-door for shifting scenery.
15. (mining) An excavation less than a shaft.
16. (game development) One or several systems that remove currency from the game's economy, thus controlling or preventing inflation

    Antonym: faucet

Synonyms

• (basin): basin, washbasin; see also washbasin for washing fixtures without water supply

Antonyms

• (destination vertex): source

Derived terms

• (washbasin): vessel sink

Translations

Related terms

• countersink
• everything but the kitchen sink

References

• Honey, I sunk the boat, The Grammarphobia Blog

Anagrams

• -kins, inks, k'ins, kins, skin

Afrikaans

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s??k/

Etymology 1

From Dutch zinken, from Middle Dutch sinken, from Old Dutch *sincan, from Proto-Germanic *sinkwan?, from Proto-Indo-European *seng?- (“to fall, sink”).

Verb

sink (present sink, present participle sinkende, past participle gesink)

1. (intransitive) to sink

Etymology 2

From Dutch zink, from German Zink.

Noun

sink (uncountable)

1. zinc

Estonian

Noun

sink (genitive singi, partitive sinki)

1. ham

Declension

Faroese

Etymology

From German Zink.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s???k/
• Rhymes: -???k

Noun

sink n (genitive singular sinks, uncountable)

1. (metal) zinc

Declension

Derived terms

• sinksalva

Icelandic

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -???k

Noun

sink n (genitive singular sinks, no plural)

1. zinc (chemical element)

Declension

Anagrams

• skin

Mauritian Creole

Numeral

sink

1. Alternative spelling of senk

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

sink m or n (definite singular sinken or sinket) (uncountable)

1. zinc (chemical element, symbol Zn)

Derived terms

• forsinke
• sinksulfat

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From German Zink.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s??k/

Noun

sink m or n (definite singular sinken or sinket) (uncountable)

1. zinc (chemical element, symbol Zn)

Derived terms

• sinksulfat

References

• “sink” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

West Frisian

Verb

sink

1. first-person singular present of sinke
2. imperative of sinke

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?la?.t?n/
• Rhymes: -a?t?n

Etymology 1

From Middle English lightnen, equivalent to light +? -en.

Verb

lighten (third-person singular simple present lightens, present participle lightening, simple past and past participle lightened)

1. (transitive) To make brighter or clearer; to illuminate.
   • 1667, John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis, London: Henry Herringman, stanza 231, p. 59,^[1]

     A Key of fire ran all along the shore,

     And lighten’d all the river with the blaze:

2. (intransitive) To become brighter or clearer; to brighten.
3. (intransitive, archaic) To burst forth or dart, as lightning; to shine with, or like, lightning; to flash.
   • 1595, George Peele, The Old Wives’ Tale, The Malone Society Reprints, 1908, line 500,^[2]

     Enter the Conjurer; it lightens and thunders […]

   • c. 1599, William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act I, Scene 3,^[3]

     […] this dreadful night,

     That thunders, lightens, opens graves, and roars

     As doth the lion.

4. (transitive) To emit or disclose in, or as if in, lightning; to flash out, like lightning.
   • c. 1595, William Shakespeare, Richard II, Act III, Scene 3,^[4]

     […] behold his eye,

     As bright as is the eagle’s, lightens forth

     Controlling majesty:

5. To illuminate with knowledge; to enlighten.
   • 1599, John Davies, “Of the Soule of man, and the immortalitie thereof” in Nosce Teipsum. This Oracle Expounded in Two Elegies, London: John Standish, p. 10,^[5]

     O Light which mak’st the Light, which makes the Day,

     Which setst the Eye without and Mind within,

     Lighten my spirit with one cleare heavenly ray,

     Which now to view it selfe doth first begin.

Conjugation

Derived terms

• lighten up

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English lightnen, equivalent to light +? -en.

Verb

lighten (third-person singular simple present lightens, present participle lightening, simple past and past participle lightened)

1. (transitive) To alleviate; to reduce the burden of.

2. (transitive) To make light or lighter in weight.
3. (transitive) To make less serious or more cheerful.
   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Psalms 34:5,^[6]

     They looked unto him, were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.

4. (intransitive) To become light or lighter in weight.
5. (intransitive) To become less serious or more cheerful.

Conjugation

Derived terms

• lighten up

Translations

Etymology 3

From light +? -en.

Verb

lighten (third-person singular simple present lightens, present participle lightening, simple past and past participle lightened)

1. To descend; to light.
   • Book of Common Prayer

     O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us.

Related terms

• alight

Anagrams

• enlight, lething