sunken

adjective

ˈsəŋ-kən How to pronounce sunken (audio)
Definition of sunkennext
1
as in concave
curved inward our convalescing guest's sunken cheeks soon filled out on a diet of my mother's cooking

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in underwater
living, lying, or occurring below the surface of the water diving for sunken treasure

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of sunken The main lounge has a sunken living room seating area, dining tables, and a bar serving coffee and cocktails. — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 3 Sep. 2026 As the orbital bone around your eyes loses volume during perimenopause, your eyes will look more sunken. — Maggie Ryan, Flow Space, 1 Sep. 2026 The home features three bedrooms and three and a half bathrooms with a working fireplace and a sunken garden. — Nora Deligter, Curbed, 28 Aug. 2026 The clock was ticking, but Ballard had learned something from the sunken subs. — Encyclopedia Britannica, 24 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for sunken
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sunken
  1. concave
  2. underwater
  3. hollow
  4. aquatic
  5. depressed
  6. submarine
  7. submerged
Adjective
  • The shoes paired with the Dolce & Gabbana dress featured a slender strap across the toes and curved straps around the top of the foot and ankle forming a diamond with concave sides.
    — Jaden Thompson, Footwear News, 1 Sep. 2026
  • The convex-concave curves of the open and closed parentheses cup something said by the way, whisperings, secrets mouthed into the reader’s ear, mumbled under the author’s breath.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 18 Aug. 2026
Definition of concave
Adjective
  • Sculptural hems and peplums gave the clothes an underwater buoyancy, while naturalist David Attenborough’s voice supplied the ocean-conservation message.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 2 Oct. 2026
  • Audiences can expect natural richness, such as underwater images of glistening shellfish, to encounter ecological dread.
    — Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 2 Oct. 2026
Definition of underwater
Adjective
  • The stranger’s hollow cheeks, his dark eyes, whose lashes always appeared wet, the bony shoulders that protruded from the singlet Chee Meng had lent him—all of it frightened Shawn.
    — Rachel Heng, New Yorker, 4 Oct. 2026
  • Every unfilled titanium lattice sank as water flooded its hollow channels.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 20 Sep. 2026
Definition of hollow
Adjective
  • Discharging untreated whey can deplete oxygen in waterways and damage aquatic ecosystems.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 3 Oct. 2026
  • Because microorganisms in water turn regular mercury into methylmercury, a toxic chemical form that binds tightly to fish tissue, the heavy metal accumulates to higher levels in aquatic animals.
    — Sandee LaMotte, CNN Money, 2 Oct. 2026
Definition of aquatic
Adjective
  • In other words, support for white nationalism was higher among people living in more distressed or economically depressed places.
    — James Bisbee, The Conversation, 2 Oct. 2026
  • My idea of Sweden was based entirely on Scandi-noir dramas, all bleak landscapes, depressed people and woolly jumpers.
    — Natasha Langan, TheWeek, 29 Sep. 2026
Definition of depressed
Adjective
  • The third pillar expands on this approach by increasing the capacity of the wider submarine industrial base.
    — Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 22 Sep. 2026
  • But a new antenna technology, borrowed from the physics of medical implants, is rethinking how submarine machines talk to each other – and to us.
    — Omar Kardoudi June 06, New Atlas, 6 June 2026
Definition of submarine
Adjective
  • Advanced blue-green optical communications penetrate the water column to communicate with submerged submarines without requiring them to deploy compromise-prone antennas.
    — Rohit Jha, Forbes.com, 1 Oct. 2026
  • Rescue teams recovered four bodies from inside the submerged vessel on Friday, while seven more were found along nearby shorelines, Bramantyo said.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 27 Sep. 2026
Definition of submerged

Browse Nearby Words

sunk
sunken
sunk fence
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Sunken.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sunken. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.

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