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

An hour into Salli Richardson-Whitfield’s directorial debut, she was left to sink or swim. — Hunter Ingram, Variety, 12 Aug. 2026

Morris creates chaotic, high-stakes environments that forces players to sink or swim. — Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 28 July 2026

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

Rhymes for sink or swim

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