Synonyms of sinking

sinking 1 of 3

adjective

as in fading

Related Words

• fading
• dying
• moribund
• declining
• expiring
• deteriorating
• fallen
• passing away
• lifeless
• deceased
• gone
• departed
• decadent
• defunct
• demised
• dead
• terminal
• passed away

Dissimilar Words

• alive
• live
• living
• breathing
• surviving
• quick
• existing
• animate
• being
• subsisting
• booming
• thriving
• flourishing
• roaring
• bouncing
• vital
• lively
• energetic
• spirited
• prospering
• animated
• sprightly
• springy
• perky
• vivacious
• frisky
• jazzy
• peppy
• zippy
• sprightful

sinking

2 of 3

noun

1

as in foundering

Related Words

• foundering
• stranding
• grounding
• beaching
• scuttling
• wrecking
• shipwreck
• wreck
• shipwrecking
• wreckage

Dissimilar Words

• recovery
• salvage
• salvaging

2

as in plummeting

Related Words

• plummeting
• decline
• downfall
• downgrade
• dip
• plunge
• dive
• drop
• comedown
• fall
• down
• nosedive
• descent

Dissimilar Words

• rise
• soaring
• climb
• progress
• advance
• ascent
• rising
• progression
• upturn
• headway
• improvement
• upswing
• betterment

sinking

3 of 3

verb

present participle of sink

1

as in deteriorating

to become worse or of less value

his fortunes have steadily sunk since the breakup of his business

Synonyms & Similar Words

• deteriorating
• crumbling
• descending
• worsening
• declining
• rotting
• diminishing
• decaying
• ebbing
• degenerating
• devolving
• retrograding
• regressing
• weakening
• falling
• sagging
• disintegrating
• atrophying
• slipping
• receding
• decomposing
• going to pot
• dwindling
• going to seed
• waning
• reducing
• downsizing
• souring
• putrefying
• degrading
• moldering
• undermining
• corrupting
• spoiling
• languishing
• lowering
• lagging
• failing
• dilapidating
• drooping
• lessening
• debilitating
• abating
• flagging
• wasting (away)
• wilting
• running down
• breaking down
• de-escalating

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• improving
• ameliorating
• upgrading
• bettering
• intensifying
• strengthening
• meliorating
• enhancing
• developing
• heightening
• enriching
• proceeding
• fortifying
• advancing
• progressing
• marching

2

as in plunging

to go to a lower level especially abruptly

I had just bought a bundle of shares of the stock when its price sank like a rock

Synonyms & Similar Words

• plunging
• falling
• dipping
• tumbling
• declining
• plummeting
• dropping
• skidding
• crashing
• descending
• lowering
• decreasing
• diving
• cratering
• nose-diving
• subsiding
• retreating
• diminishing
• ebbing
• drooping
• dying (down)
• dwindling
• waning
• lessening
• receding
• tapering off
• moderating
• abating
• letting up
• de-escalating

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• rising
• mounting
• lifting
• arising
• ascending
• soaring
• increasing
• growing
• building
• spiking
• expanding
• swelling
• accumulating
• escalating
• intensifying
• enlarging
• upping
• burgeoning
• picking up
• snowballing
• mushrooming
• ballooning
• waxing

3

as in stifling

to refrain from openly showing or uttering

sinks his pride and makes the first step towards a reconciliation

Synonyms & Similar Words

• stifling
• swallowing
• suppressing
• submerging
• repressing
• choking (back)
• strangling
• holding back
• smothering
• controlling
• pocketing
• managing
• containing
• curbing
• governing
• quashing
• checking
• quelling
• bridling
• muffling
• bottling up
• squelching

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• expressing
• releasing
• taking out
• venting
• loosing
• unleashing

4

as in vanishing

to cease to be visible

that evening we sat on the beach, dreamily watching the sun sink beneath the horizon

Synonyms & Similar Words

• vanishing
• disappearing
• fading
• melting
• flying
• evaporating
• fleeing
• dissolving
• dissipating
• dropping out of sight
• dematerializing
• evanescing
• dispersing
• blurring
• dying (away or down or out)
• drying up
• clearing
• dimming
• blanking (out)

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• appearing
• emerging
• issuing
• arriving
• looming
• coming out
• materializing
• showing up
• breaking out

5

as in reducing

to diminish the price or value of

the slightest nick will sink the price of a piece of Tiffany glass

Synonyms & Similar Words

• reducing
• lowering
• depressing
• shrinking
• devaluing
• depreciating
• downgrading
• attenuating
• cheapening
• devaluating
• breaking
• writing down
• writing off
• marking down
• debasing
• demonetizing
• compressing
• dwindling
• underestimating
• undervaluing
• contracting
• deflating
• downsizing
• underrating
• lessening
• underpricing
• moderating
• abridging
• de-escalating

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• upgrading
• enhancing
• appreciating
• inflating
• marking up
• increasing
• bloating
• blowing up
• adding
• extending
• expanding
• raising
• swelling
• escalating
• multiplying
• enlarging
• overestimating
• augmenting
• maximizing
• boosting
• heightening
• amplifying
• compounding
• dilating
• overvaluing
• overrating
• ballooning
• overpricing
• upping
• aggrandizing

6

as in humiliating

to reduce to a lower standing in one's own eyes or in others' eyes

the revelation that he has been embezzling for years definitely sinks him in my opinion

Synonyms & Similar Words

• humiliating
• discrediting
• shaming
• embarrassing
• disgracing
• dishonoring
• rattling
• degrading
• lowering
• humbling
• debasing
• insulting
• cheapening
• fouling
• confusing
• abasing
• diminishing
• taking down
• criticizing
• chastening
• demeaning
• minimizing
• smirching
• ridiculing
• mortifying
• disconcerting
• discounting
• depreciating
• detracting
• decrying
• disparaging
• flustering
• slandering
• belittling
• maligning
• condemning
• defiling
• writing off
• defaming
• fazing
• discomfiting
• castigating
• libeling
• discountenancing
• affronting
• confounding
• abashing
• nonplussing
• denouncing
• crying down
• bad-mouthing
• damning
• putting down
• censuring
• execrating
• reprehending
• reprobating

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• elevating
• citing
• honoring
• exalting
• cheering
• celebrating
• praising
• saluting
• hailing
• recognizing
• decorating
• acknowledging
• applauding
• deifying
• boasting
• commending
• complimenting
• congratulating
• aggrandizing
• lauding
• extolling
• eulogizing
• canonizing
• touting
• acclaiming
• highlighting
• lifting
• advancing
• raising
• promoting
• spotlighting
• upgrading
• feting
• playing up
• magnifying
• boosting
• enshrining
• glorifying
• enthroning
• dignifying
• uplifting
• ennobling
• romanticizing
• idealizing
• enskying

7

as in falling

to lead or extend downward

the road sinks abruptly after that curve

Synonyms & Similar Words

• plunging
• falling
• descending
• sloping
• dropping
• dipping
• leaning
• declining
• tilting
• angling
• tipping
• slanting
• inclining
• reclining
• listing
• cocking
• heeling
• canting

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• rising
• mounting
• ascending
• arising
• climbing
• uprising
• evening
• upturning
• straightening
• flattening
• upsweeping
• planing
• smoothing
• leveling

8

as in weakening

to lose bodily strength or vigor

the old woman only sunk further after she was moved to the nursing home

Synonyms & Similar Words

• fading
• weakening
• sagging
• going
• failing
• decaying
• drooping
• languishing
• lagging
• deteriorating
• flagging
• withering
• wilting
• wasting (away)
• emaciating
• rotting
• yielding
• wearing out
• degenerating
• breaking down
• running down

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• recovering
• rallying
• gaining
• recuperating
• rebounding
• convalescing

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of sinking

Noun

That system sends air sinking, pressure increasing and temperatures rising. — Alexa St. John, Fortune, 30 June 2026

Finding the wreck Official records detailing Hōfuku Maru’s sinking were incomplete and inconsistent, Beckensall said. — Katie Hunt, CNN Money, 18 June 2026

Actual sinking exercises provide valuable data on structural damage, flooding, shock effects, and sinking behaviour. — Christopher McFadden, Interesting Engineering, 14 June 2026

So, when planning began for the Lincoln Memorial in the early 1910s, builders faced a real sinking problem. — CBS News, 31 May 2026

Lower flows mean less sediment flushing downstream, accelerating the sinking of the Louisiana delta. — Trevor Hughes, USA Today, 31 May 2026

Last month, on the 114th anniversary of the Titanic’s sinking, the museum’s Titanic exhibit flooded after heavy storms that week. — Joseph States, Chicago Tribune, 22 May 2026

With a top altitude of 1,100 feet, this position at the highest point in the AVA offers warmer nighttime temperatures than the valley floor thanks to the warm air rising and cool air sinking, while daytime temperatures are lower than in areas closer to sea level. — Mike Desimone, Robb Report, 17 May 2026

In 2009, Millvina Dean, the last survivor of the 1912 sinking of the RMS Titanic, died in Hampshire, England at 97. — ABC News, 11 May 2026

Verb

This sinking moment is the reason to perform an inventory check before heading to the store or buying items online. — Melissa Willets, Parents, 6 July 2026

While the crown prince managed to free himself from the dragon before sinking, Triarchy crossbowmen peppered him from a nearby ship, and both dragon and rider perished. — Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 5 July 2026

The observatory had been sinking lower and lower into the Earth’s orbit in recent years, due to solar activity. — Will McCurdy, PC Magazine, 5 July 2026

Heat will start to ease Sunday for much of the East, with highs next week sinking back into the more seasonable 80s. — Mary Gilbert, CNN Money, 4 July 2026

The mission could determine the future of similar operations, including one for the notable Hubble Space Telescope, which has been slowly meeting a similar sinking fate, the BBC reported. — Madison E. Goldberg, PEOPLE, 3 July 2026

Shares of neocloud companies CoreWeave and Nebius Group both plunged following the Meta news, sinking about 12% each. — Ashley Capoot, CNBC, 1 July 2026

The magnitude of Prince Jacerys’s death was lost in the tumult of battle last week; compared to watching Vermax’s colossal frame be swallowed by the sea, the sight of a sinking boy, puny and fragile, struggled to pack a cinematic punch. — Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 29 June 2026

Scanning the cosmos since its launch in 2004, Swift has been sinking faster and faster because of recent intense solar activity. — Marcia Dunn, Fortune, 28 June 2026