sunk

1 of 2

past tense and past participle of sink

sunk

2 of 2

adjective

ˈsəŋk 

1

: depressed in spirits

2

: done for, ruined

If Joe Glaser found out that he'd booked another band …, he was sunk. … Cross Joe Glaser and the lucrative stopover dates … would vanish.

—James McBride

Synonyms of sunk

Adjective

• done
• ruined
• doomed
• finished

Examples of sunk in a Sentence

Adjective

all our savings went for lottery tickets, and now we're sunk

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

Poor Stuart’s capable and patient efforts come to nothing, because Hal is in a snit and seems to be suffering an acute case of sunk cost fallacy-itis. — Sophie Brookover, Vulture, 17 Oct. 2026

The train is, of course, a classic example of the perennial perils of sunk costs; abandoning the line seems absurd (even to us) given how much money would be written off. — The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 20 Aug. 2026

In my experience, mid-market companies operate with leaner teams and cannot absorb the sunk costs of a multi-month implementation with room for scope creep, reworks and failures. — Prathamesh Bhingarde, Forbes.com, 29 June 2026

Then there’s the sunk cost of picks already spent trying to find The Guy — picks that weren’t used for help up front for Bedard. — Shayna Goldman, New York Times, 24 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

1583, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Phrases Containing sunk

• sunk fence
• sunk to new depths

Rhymes for sunk

• bunk
• chunk
• clunk
• drunk
• dunk
• hunk
• junk
• punk
• shrunk
• slunk
• spunk
• trunk

Kids Definition

sunk

past and past participle of sink