Synonyms of sinking

sinking 1 of 3

adjective

as in fading

Related Words

• fading
• dying
• moribund
• declining
• expiring
• deteriorating
• fallen
• passing away
• lifeless
• deceased
• gone
• departed
• decadent
• defunct
• demised
• dead
• terminal
• passed away

Dissimilar Words

• alive
• live
• living
• breathing
• surviving
• quick
• existing
• animate
• being
• subsisting
• booming
• thriving
• flourishing
• roaring
• bouncing
• vital
• lively
• energetic
• spirited
• prospering
• animated
• sprightly
• springy
• perky
• vivacious
• frisky
• jazzy
• peppy
• zippy
• sprightful

sinking

2 of 3

noun

1

as in foundering

Related Words

• foundering
• stranding
• grounding
• beaching
• scuttling
• wrecking
• shipwreck
• wreck
• shipwrecking
• wreckage

Dissimilar Words

• recovery
• salvage
• salvaging

2

as in plummeting

Related Words

• plummeting
• decline
• downfall
• downgrade
• dip
• plunge
• dive
• drop
• comedown
• fall
• down
• nosedive
• descent

Dissimilar Words

• rise
• soaring
• climb
• progress
• advance
• ascent
• rising
• progression
• upturn
• headway
• improvement
• upswing
• betterment

sinking

3 of 3

verb

present participle of sink

1

as in deteriorating

to become worse or of less value

his fortunes have steadily sunk since the breakup of his business

Synonyms & Similar Words

• deteriorating
• crumbling
• descending
• worsening
• declining
• rotting
• diminishing
• decaying
• ebbing
• degenerating
• devolving
• retrograding
• regressing
• weakening
• falling
• sagging
• disintegrating
• atrophying
• slipping
• receding
• decomposing
• going to pot
• dwindling
• going to seed
• waning
• reducing
• downsizing
• souring
• putrefying
• degrading
• moldering
• undermining
• corrupting
• spoiling
• languishing
• lowering
• lagging
• failing
• dilapidating
• drooping
• lessening
• debilitating
• abating
• flagging
• wasting (away)
• wilting
• running down
• breaking down
• de-escalating

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• improving
• ameliorating
• upgrading
• bettering
• intensifying
• strengthening
• meliorating
• enhancing
• developing
• heightening
• enriching
• proceeding
• fortifying
• advancing
• progressing
• marching

2

as in plunging

to go to a lower level especially abruptly

I had just bought a bundle of shares of the stock when its price sank like a rock

Synonyms & Similar Words

• plunging
• falling
• dipping
• tumbling
• declining
• plummeting
• dropping
• skidding
• crashing
• descending
• lowering
• decreasing
• diving
• cratering
• nose-diving
• subsiding
• retreating
• diminishing
• ebbing
• drooping
• dying (down)
• dwindling
• waning
• lessening
• receding
• tapering off
• moderating
• abating
• letting up
• de-escalating

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• rising
• mounting
• lifting
• arising
• ascending
• soaring
• increasing
• growing
• building
• spiking
• expanding
• swelling
• accumulating
• escalating
• intensifying
• enlarging
• upping
• burgeoning
• picking up
• snowballing
• mushrooming
• ballooning
• waxing

3

as in stifling

to refrain from openly showing or uttering

sinks his pride and makes the first step towards a reconciliation

Synonyms & Similar Words

• stifling
• swallowing
• suppressing
• submerging
• repressing
• choking (back)
• strangling
• holding back
• smothering
• controlling
• pocketing
• managing
• containing
• curbing
• governing
• quashing
• checking
• quelling
• bridling
• muffling
• bottling up
• squelching

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• expressing
• releasing
• taking out
• venting
• loosing
• unleashing

4

as in vanishing

to cease to be visible

that evening we sat on the beach, dreamily watching the sun sink beneath the horizon

Synonyms & Similar Words

• vanishing
• disappearing
• fading
• melting
• flying
• evaporating
• fleeing
• dissolving
• dissipating
• dropping out of sight
• dematerializing
• evanescing
• dispersing
• blurring
• dying (away or down or out)
• drying up
• clearing
• dimming
• blanking (out)

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• appearing
• emerging
• issuing
• arriving
• looming
• coming out
• materializing
• showing up
• breaking out

5

as in reducing

to diminish the price or value of

the slightest nick will sink the price of a piece of Tiffany glass

Synonyms & Similar Words

• reducing
• lowering
• depressing
• shrinking
• devaluing
• depreciating
• downgrading
• attenuating
• cheapening
• devaluating
• breaking
• writing down
• writing off
• marking down
• debasing
• demonetizing
• compressing
• dwindling
• underestimating
• undervaluing
• contracting
• deflating
• downsizing
• underrating
• lessening
• underpricing
• moderating
• abridging
• de-escalating

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• upgrading
• enhancing
• appreciating
• inflating
• marking up
• increasing
• bloating
• blowing up
• adding
• extending
• expanding
• raising
• swelling
• escalating
• multiplying
• enlarging
• overestimating
• augmenting
• maximizing
• boosting
• heightening
• amplifying
• compounding
• dilating
• overvaluing
• overrating
• ballooning
• overpricing
• upping
• aggrandizing

6

as in humiliating

to reduce to a lower standing in one's own eyes or in others' eyes

the revelation that he has been embezzling for years definitely sinks him in my opinion

Synonyms & Similar Words

• humiliating
• discrediting
• embarrassing
• shaming
• disgracing
• dishonoring
• rattling
• degrading
• lowering
• debasing
• humbling
• insulting
• cheapening
• fouling
• confusing
• abasing
• taking down
• diminishing
• criticizing
• chastening
• demeaning
• minimizing
• smirching
• ridiculing
• mortifying
• disconcerting
• discounting
• depreciating
• detracting
• decrying
• disparaging
• flustering
• slandering
• belittling
• maligning
• defiling
• condemning
• writing off
• defaming
• fazing
• discomfiting
• castigating
• libeling
• discountenancing
• affronting
• confounding
• abashing
• nonplussing
• denouncing
• crying down
• bad-mouthing
• damning
• putting down
• censuring
• execrating
• reprehending
• reprobating

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• elevating
• citing
• honoring
• exalting
• cheering
• celebrating
• praising
• saluting
• hailing
• recognizing
• decorating
• acknowledging
• applauding
• deifying
• boasting
• commending
• complimenting
• congratulating
• aggrandizing
• lauding
• extolling
• eulogizing
• canonizing
• touting
• acclaiming
• highlighting
• lifting
• advancing
• raising
• promoting
• spotlighting
• upgrading
• feting
• playing up
• magnifying
• boosting
• enshrining
• glorifying
• enthroning
• dignifying
• uplifting
• ennobling
• romanticizing
• idealizing
• enskying

7

as in falling

to lead or extend downward

the road sinks abruptly after that curve

Synonyms & Similar Words

• plunging
• falling
• descending
• sloping
• dropping
• dipping
• leaning
• declining
• tilting
• angling
• tipping
• slanting
• inclining
• reclining
• listing
• cocking
• heeling
• canting

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• rising
• mounting
• ascending
• arising
• climbing
• uprising
• evening
• upturning
• straightening
• flattening
• upsweeping
• planing
• smoothing
• leveling

8

as in weakening

to lose bodily strength or vigor

the old woman only sunk further after she was moved to the nursing home

Synonyms & Similar Words

• fading
• weakening
• sagging
• going
• failing
• decaying
• drooping
• languishing
• lagging
• deteriorating
• flagging
• withering
• wilting
• wasting (away)
• emaciating
• rotting
• yielding
• wearing out
• degenerating
• breaking down
• running down

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• recovering
• rallying
• gaining
• recuperating
• rebounding
• convalescing

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of sinking

Adjective

The sinking exercise was designed to strengthen the two countries’ ability to carry out long-range maritime strikes. — Atharva Gosavi, Interesting Engineering, 29 Sep. 2026

Noun

Thirteen people were sentenced to prison terms of up to 10 years on Wednesday in connection with the sinking of a boat in the English Channel nearly five years ago, in one of the biggest tragedies of migrants making the dangerous crossing. — ABC News, 30 Sep. 2026

South Gate’s rain-sodden float depicted a floral Titanic sinking alongside the killer iceberg. — Patt Morrison, Los Angeles Times, 17 Sep. 2026

The 1997 Oscar-winning film starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet depicts the sinking of the Titanic, which took the lives of 1,500 passengers in 1912. — Rachel McRady, PEOPLE, 15 Sep. 2026

The sinking of a large ship can also have consequences beyond an immediate military setback. — Holmes Liao, Foreign Affairs, 4 Sep. 2026

One of his first major tests in office was the sinking of the Kursk, a nuclear submarine that went down with 118 sailors on board. — Nathan Hodge, CNN Money, 23 Aug. 2026

This is where the sinking of two 260-feet (80 meter) long, barges will be used to temporarily increase the water levels near the nuclear plant. — Ameya Paleja, Interesting Engineering, 17 Aug. 2026

The narrator has just suggested, facetiously, that someone should install a billboard-size digital counter in Times Square to keep track of Manhattan’s sinking. — Maya Binyam, New Yorker, 12 Aug. 2026

More than 3,000 families in the complex were affected by the quake, residents estimate, and most of the buildings were damaged, with some crushed, tilted, or sinking. — Tibisay Zea, Christian Science Monitor, 27 July 2026

Verb

The extreme heat is driven by a persistent high pressure ridge that has parked over the region causing sinking warming air with very little overnight relief. — Hannah Fry, Los Angeles Times, 5 Oct. 2026

Its fertility rate fell below replacement level in 2008 and has been sinking since. — Carl Minzner, Foreign Affairs, 5 Oct. 2026

As the Dome Fire continues to burn in Yosemite National Park, there is the risk of some of the smoke sinking down and settling in the Sacramento Valley this weekend in the absence of any breeze to blow it away. — Sean MacAday, Sacbee.com, 1 Oct. 2026

The instruments were shut off for months to reduce power use and keep Swift from sinking. — Ashley Strickland, CNN Money, 30 Sep. 2026

By the 2090s, about 80% of buildings, 60% of roads and 90% of pipelines are projected to be at risk of damage from sinking land. — Ming Xiao, The Conversation, 29 Sep. 2026

Josh Hartnett stars as a fisherman who learns of a mysterious, massive predator in the sea that is sinking boats and killing his friends and neighbors. — K. Thor Jensen, PC Magazine, 29 Sep. 2026

According to Reuters, hopes for new Boeing orders from China were sinking going into the talks. — Natasha Abellard, CNBC, 24 Sep. 2026

Even after 40 years, filing a game story on time still feels like sinking a three-pointer at the buzzer. — Michelle Kaufman, Miami Herald, 24 Sep. 2026