How to Use tinkle in a Sentence

tinkle

1 of 2 verb

• The ice tinkled in the glass.
• He tinkled a small bell.
• A piano was tinkling in the background.
• The bell tinkled, but this time the shelves were empty.
  — Literary Hub, 2 June 2026
• Guests in silk blouses and slacks sipped scotch while the piano man tinkled the keys.
  — Erin Florio, Condé Nast Traveler, 15 Nov. 2024
• Just sit back and drink your coffee to the tune of tinkling cowbells across the valley.
  — John Oseid, Forbes.com, 1 July 2025
• Eerie chants, tinkling percussion, zany strings, and plucky swelling piano.
  — Grace Byron, Vulture, 15 Sep. 2025
• The sound of the water tinkling on the fountain’s bronze statues makes my heart flutter.
  — Laura Washington, Chicago Tribune, 9 July 2025
• But the plotting will continue, and the Jester will be there to tinkle his bells of steel.
  — James Wolcott, The Hive, 21 Feb. 2017
• The soothing, deeply resonant humming of the bowls and sparkling tinkling of chimes filled the room.
  — Lisa Gutierrez, Kansas City Star, 12 Aug. 2025
• That had to have felt like Old Man Winter tinkling on his shoulder.
  — Grant Brisbee, The Athletic, 5 Aug. 2024
• Transform a handful of old keys into a charming wind chime that adds a gentle, tinkling sound to your outdoor space.
  — Katie Cloyd, Martha Stewart, 17 Jan. 2026
• Dinners were often silent, interrupted only by tinkling ice in a whiskey glass.
  — Robin Antalek, Longreads, 22 Apr. 2020
• Soft music tinkled in the white marble lobby, where there was hardly a soul walking in or out on a summer workday.
  — Paula Aceves, Curbed, 31 Oct. 2024
• There’s often a pianist tinkling away in the corner of the airy elegant room in the afternoon.
  — Mark Ellwood, Condé Nast Traveler, 3 Mar. 2018
• There’s often a pianist tinkling away in the corner of the airy elegant room in the afternoon.
  — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 24 June 2026
• Bursts of tinkling metal madness somehow mesh with the overall darkness of the slow second movement.
  — Anthony Tommasini, New York Times, 12 June 2016
• As her name suggests, the fairy uses a tinkling, bell-like sound to communicate, but no one can understand her.
  — Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 29 Apr. 2023
• The only sound breaking through the hot afternoon air comes from a snorting pair of cows in the neighbor’s yard, and tinkling wind chimes hang over the porch.
  — Megan Spurrell, Condé Nast Traveler, 29 Mar. 2018
• On a Friday night, the room tinkled with the sound of voices just a decade out of summer camp and maybe five years out of the Midwest.
  — Gary Shteyngart, The New Yorker, 24 Apr. 2024
• Amrava is the elegant bar in the courtyard of the Palace wing, with a tinkling fountain outside.
  — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 23 Apr. 2026
• Chanting, tinkling bells and crashing waves swelled into my headphones at the same time as rumbling and vibrating increased on all sides of me.
  — Los Angeles Times, 17 Feb. 2023
• Curlers rarely merit those up-close-and-personal Olympic bios accompanied by tinkling piano.
  — Author: Karen Heller, Anchorage Daily News, 31 Jan. 2018
• This was a trial that would surely force many SUVs and pick-ups to tinkle a puddle of oil in fear—a steep volcano climb.
  — Matthew MacConnell, Forbes.com, 23 June 2025
• There are guitar solos, tinkling electric pianos, ‘70s funk bass, piledriving drums and even acoustic guitars.
  — Jem Aswad, Variety, 12 May 2023
• But as the Steinway tinkled and voices filled the room, vibrations rose from deep beneath the earth, like a musical giant shifting in its grave.
  — Ben Widdicombe, New York Times, 24 June 2017
• The Drawing Room is best for afternoon teas accompanied by a tinkling piano.
  — Lydia Bell, Condé Nast Traveler, 7 Feb. 2026
• The marbled, frescoed, octagonal room was domed to amplify the sound of a tinkling keys at the center, and hosted regular recitals.
  — Adriane Quinlan, Curbed, 9 Feb. 2026
• Ethereal notes of a glass harmonica, its sound resembling that of clinking glasses, tinkled as incense wafted through the air.
  — National Geographic, 5 Mar. 2019
• The cocktail hour’s soundtrack was a mariachi band, Los Campos, and loads of tinkling marimba by Tono 13.
  — Kaitlin Menza, Condé Nast Traveler, 26 June 2024

tinkle

2 of 2 noun

• The tags tinkle in the wind and give the dog a permanent sparkle.
  — Mary Forgione, latimes.com, 1 Apr. 2018
• There’s a steady wind stirring on that cloudy June day, and the chimes on the farm store tinkle.
  — Rachael Moeller Gorman, Smithsonian Magazine, 28 Mar. 2023
• Outside the window, light glints off the pool, and a stone waterfall tinkles.
  — Alex Morris, Rolling Stone, 17 Apr. 2023
• Why the Alcatraz foghorn when a bicycle tinkle-bell would do?
  — Scott Ostler, San Francisco Chronicle, 21 Mar. 2021
• In the center of the courtyard, the tinkle of glasses can be heard over the asthmatic gurgle of the fountain.
  — New York Times, 11 Nov. 2020
• The dog swam back to shore and shook itself, and the tinkle of its collar bounced across the surface of the water and toward Chip.
  — Lauren Groff, The New Yorker, 27 Apr. 2021
• Light rain above tinkles musically, reaching a crescendo when heavier storms pass.
  — Elizabeth Preston, Science | AAAS, 20 June 2019
• Walking on the broken porcelain conjures the most enchanting crack-crunch-tinkle.
  — Vanessa Hua, SFChronicle.com, 10 Sep. 2020
• Occasional chants, chatter, and the tinkle of brass bells are interspersed with the calls of mynas.
  — Mahima Jain, WIRED, 18 Mar. 2023
• Periodically a mandolin tinkles, or maybe a fiddle swoops in as if from a low-hanging cloud.
  — Theater Critic, San Francisco Chronicle, 18 Feb. 2026
• What is the difference between face shaving with a tinkle razor and dermaplaning?
  — Jacqueline Kilikita, refinery29.com, 28 May 2021
• Above us a chandelier's crystal pendants tinkle in time with a soldier's footfalls in an upper bedroom.
  — Elliot Ackerman, Esquire, 23 Mar. 2017
• Soon, the air is alive with the deep thump of the tuba, the tiny tinkle of the triangle and everything in between, melting into a soothing melody.
  — The New York Times, New York Times, 6 Oct. 2022
• External sounds and sights bleed into this exhibition, which also resonates with the whir and creak and tinkle of sculptures in motion.
  — Jason Farago, New York Times, 8 June 2017
• The notes were few, as a large orchestra thinned to the tinkle of harp, mandolin and celesta littering soft, ethereal drones in the select strings and winds.
  — Mark Swed, latimes.com, 6 Apr. 2018
• Roses wreath bespoke trellises, and the gentle tinkle from black slate fountains fills the space, an almost meditative hum.
  — The Editors, Robb Report, 23 June 2021
• In every corner of the establishment — the florist shop, the main store and the outdoor nursery — the sound of trickling water mingled with the tinkle of wind chimes.
  — Janis Mara, The Mercury News, 24 May 2017
• The backing track is a bass line going nowhere slowly, oozing to bind together twitches of electronic percussion and little tinkles and twangs that drift in and out.
  — Jon Pareles, New York Times, 22 Dec. 2017
• In a delectable detail, Missy’s hypnotic aid is not a swinging wristwatch but the tinkle of a teaspoon in a china cup.
  — Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 6 Mar. 2017
• Sometimes, in the deep winter quiet, a piano tinkles in Kelley’s Saloon, and the spirits dance to ghostly music.
  — Emilee Coblentz, Outside, 16 Oct. 2025
• The music drones and burbles, tinkles and undulates, taking its time and lingering over instrumental stretches.
  — New York Times, 5 Apr. 2018
• From the tinkle, the researchers fished out 181 bacteria spanning the diversity of microbes in the bladder and sequenced their genomes.
  — Beth Mole, Ars Technica, 1 Feb. 2018
• While the familiar tinkle of the Red Kettle bells can still be heard throughout the next few weeks, there are also fewer bells throughout the nation because of the pandemic.
  — Kelly Tyko, USA TODAY, 3 Dec. 2020
• Sound designer Matt Reed mixed the actors’ voices with sounds that evoked the narratives, like the tinkle of a wine glass on a first date, or the mechanical creaks of a plane in a deep dive to the ground.
  — Nora McGreevy, BostonGlobe.com, 18 June 2019
• On our first evening the piano bar—resplendent in gold Thai silks, with tiger orchids blooming across the green carpet—was filled with laughter, the glug-glug-glug of Champagne pouring, and the tinkle of keys.
  — Arati Menon, Condé Nast Traveler, 25 May 2024
• At the resort, which presides over the pretty Kalemya Bay, all is quiet, apart from the splish-splashing of the waves and perhaps the faint tinkle of laughter of someone giving paddle boarding a go.
  — Angelina Villa-Clarke, Forbes, 12 June 2022
• The music drones and burbles, tinkles and undulates, taking its time and lingering over instrumental stretches as if people are still willing to experience a whole album from start to finish.
  — Jon Pareles, New York Times, 14 Mar. 2018
• From the moment that Jerry Goldsmith’s piano tinkles caress the opening bars of his score while stars float past the frame, anyone with a soul knows that this is not your average IP cash-in.
  — David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 20 Aug. 2025
• Roberts doesn’t offer much empathy for the poor, diseased critter other than a pause when Ben momentarily ponders his reflection in a pool as Adrian Johnston’s eerie synth-piano score tinkles.
  — Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 9 Jan. 2026
• Only minutes by water from downtown Manhattan, Governors Island has an otherworldly air, a car-free oasis where the only sounds on the trails are lapping waves and the tinkle of bicycle bells.
  — Gina Levay, Smithsonian, 29 May 2017