sink or swim

phrase

—used to refer to a situation in which someone either must succeed by his or her own efforts or fail completely

They left me to sink or swim on my own.

In this job, it's sink or swim.

Examples of sink or swim in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

There also are signs that these movies might not sink or swim based on the opening weekend alone. — Lindsey Bahr, Chicago Tribune, 12 July 2026

The guess here is if Cisse has a respectable training camp, Green Bay will live with some early growing pains and sink or swim with him from the jump. — Rob Reischel, Forbes.com, 7 July 2026

After the gamble the Falcons made in the 2024 draft, Morris and Fontenot were clearly going to sink or swim based on how Penix fared, and Morris was the quarterback’s biggest public backer until the very end. — Josh Kendall, New York Times, 5 Mar. 2026

Rubio will either sink or swim in his precarious position. — Joe Battenfeld, Boston Herald, 13 Jan. 2026

Rhymes for sink or swim

• antonym
• kibbutzim
• pseudonym
• synonym
• brim
• clim
• dim
• grim
• gym
• him
• hymn
• im