kitchen-sink
adjective
kitch·en-sink
ˈki-chən-ˈsiŋk 
1
: being or made up of a hodgepodge of disparate elements or ingredients
2
chiefly British
: portraying or emphasizing the squalid aspects of modern life
the kitchen-sink realism of contemporary British drama—
Current Biography
Current BiographySynonyms
Examples of kitchen-sink in a Sentence
many of the bartender's recipes are for kitchen-sink cocktails that sound like they would be a waste of good liquor
Recent Examples on the Web
That strange harmony, made all the stranger for its place in a kitchen-sink tragedy about the myopia of capital punishment, rattles your soul from the inside out.
—Indiewire Staff, IndieWire, 12 Aug. 2024
Lawmakers should take a kitchen-sink approach to housing, report says
There's no single solution that will eliminate the construction bottleneck, the report found.
—Genevieve Redsten, Journal Sentinel, 25 July 2024
Greene took a kitchen-sink approach to her hectoring.
—Robin Abcarian, The Mercury News, 11 June 2024
Bird After dipping into documentary (Cow), television (Transparent, Big Little Lies) and U.S. youth subculture (American Honey), Andrea Arnold’s new feature appears to be a return to the Brit kitchen-sink realism of her breakout works Red Road and Fish Tank.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 14 May 2024
Made on a shoestring budget and shot over a little more than a week, it was lapped up for giving a uniquely dark and hilarious twist to the standard gangster flick while adding splashes of U.K. kitchen-sink social realism into the mix.
—Alex Ritman, Variety, 27 Feb. 2024
The director is proving that Denmark can produce more than kitchen-sink dramas.
—Max Gao, Los Angeles Times, 29 Nov. 2023
Written and directed by first-time filmmaker Charlotte Regan, this quirky slice of life seeks to subvert nearly every expectation set up by what was once called kitchen-sink drama, with its monochrome palette and hangdog naturalism.
—Ann Hornaday, Washington Post, 18 Sep. 2023
Howard has written a kitchen-sink drama with a difference.
—Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 1 Aug. 2023
Indiewire Staff, IndieWire, 12 Aug. 2024
Lawmakers should take a kitchen-sink approach to housing, report says
There's no single solution that will eliminate the construction bottleneck, the report found.
—Genevieve Redsten, Journal Sentinel, 25 July 2024
Greene took a kitchen-sink approach to her hectoring.
—Robin Abcarian, The Mercury News, 11 June 2024
Bird After dipping into documentary (Cow), television (Transparent, Big Little Lies) and U.S. youth subculture (American Honey), Andrea Arnold’s new feature appears to be a return to the Brit kitchen-sink realism of her breakout works Red Road and Fish Tank.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 14 May 2024
Made on a shoestring budget and shot over a little more than a week, it was lapped up for giving a uniquely dark and hilarious twist to the standard gangster flick while adding splashes of U.K. kitchen-sink social realism into the mix.
—Alex Ritman, Variety, 27 Feb. 2024
The director is proving that Denmark can produce more than kitchen-sink dramas.
—Max Gao, Los Angeles Times, 29 Nov. 2023
Written and directed by first-time filmmaker Charlotte Regan, this quirky slice of life seeks to subvert nearly every expectation set up by what was once called kitchen-sink drama, with its monochrome palette and hangdog naturalism.
—Ann Hornaday, Washington Post, 18 Sep. 2023
Howard has written a kitchen-sink drama with a difference.
—Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 1 Aug. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'kitchen-sink.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near kitchen-sink
Cite this Entry
“Kitchen-sink.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kitchen-sink. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share