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
• embarrassing
• shaming
• disgracing
• dishonoring
• rattling
• degrading
• lowering
• debasing
• humbling
• insulting
• cheapening
• fouling
• confusing
• abasing
• taking down
• diminishing
• criticizing
• chastening
• demeaning
• minimizing
• smirching
• ridiculing
• mortifying
• disconcerting
• discounting
• depreciating
• detracting
• decrying
• disparaging
• flustering
• slandering
• belittling
• maligning
• defiling
• condemning
• 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

The sinking wasn't reported for a full day, officials said this week, and the number of people on board was unclear for several days. — ABC News, 18 Sep. 2026

South Gate’s rain-sodden float depicted a floral Titanic sinking alongside the killer iceberg. — Patt Morrison, Los Angeles Times, 17 Sep. 2026

The 1997 Oscar-winning film starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet depicts the sinking of the Titanic, which took the lives of 1,500 passengers in 1912. — Rachel McRady, PEOPLE, 15 Sep. 2026

The sinking of a large ship can also have consequences beyond an immediate military setback. — Holmes Liao, Foreign Affairs, 4 Sep. 2026

One of his first major tests in office was the sinking of the Kursk, a nuclear submarine that went down with 118 sailors on board. — Nathan Hodge, CNN Money, 23 Aug. 2026

This is where the sinking of two 260-feet (80 meter) long, barges will be used to temporarily increase the water levels near the nuclear plant. — Ameya Paleja, Interesting Engineering, 17 Aug. 2026

The narrator has just suggested, facetiously, that someone should install a billboard-size digital counter in Times Square to keep track of Manhattan’s sinking. — Maya Binyam, New Yorker, 12 Aug. 2026

More than 3,000 families in the complex were affected by the quake, residents estimate, and most of the buildings were damaged, with some crushed, tilted, or sinking. — Tibisay Zea, Christian Science Monitor, 27 July 2026

Verb

According to Reuters, hopes for new Boeing orders from China were sinking going into the talks. — Natasha Abellard, CNBC, 24 Sep. 2026

Even after 40 years, filing a game story on time still feels like sinking a three-pointer at the buzzer. — Michelle Kaufman, Miami Herald, 24 Sep. 2026

In general, when a submarine caldera collapses, the sinking seafloor pulls the seawater above it along with it. — Yook Ji Hun, ArsTechnica, 23 Sep. 2026

The conflict flared instead, leaving the region sinking deeper into uncertainty over how the war would end. — Mostafa Salem, CNN Money, 23 Sep. 2026

In recent weeks, SOUTHCOM has also released several videos showing military personnel intercepting and boarding vessels allegedly involved in narco-trafficking before removing their crews and sinking the boats. — Michael Sinkewicz, FOXNews.com, 20 Sep. 2026

An expansion that would add a backup, a roughly 1,500-foot passive spillway, was supposed to be done this December, but a sinking concrete abutment pushed the completion date to winter 2027. — Sean MacAday, Sacbee.com, 20 Sep. 2026

The concrete that has kept his house from sinking into the earth until now is in disrepair; Wilson attempts to patch it himself, leaving behind a craggy keloid on the patio. — Lila Allen, Architectural Digest, 18 Sep. 2026

Jam Crumb Cake Spreadable fruit jam ribbons through this buttery crumb cake, sinking here and there for a marbled look. — Ginger Crichton, Midwest Living, 16 Sep. 2026