sip
verb (used with object)
to drink (a liquid) a little at a time; take small tastes of.
sip
1 American
[sip]
/ sɪp /
verb (used with object)
-
sips,
present (3rd person singular)
-
sipped,
past participle, past
-
sipping
present participle
-
to drink (a liquid) a little at a time; take small tastes of.
He sipped the hot tea noisily.
-
to drink from a little at a time.
The bird sipped the flower.
-
to take in; absorb.
to sip knowledge at its source.
verb (used without object)
-
sips,
present (3rd person singular)
-
sipped,
past participle, past
-
sipping
present participle
noun
-
sips
plural
-
an instance of sipping; a small taste of a liquid.
One sip told me that the milk was sour.
-
a small quantity taken by sipping.
Take just a sip, not a gulp or a swallow.
SIP
2
American
sip
British
/ sɪp /
verb
noun
-
a small quantity of a liquid taken into the mouth and swallowed
-
an act of sipping
Synonym Usage
See drink.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
sipsimple
-
sipssimple
-
have sippedperfect
-
has sippedperfect
-
am sippingprogressive
-
are sippingprogressive
-
is sippingprogressive
-
have been sippingperfect progressive
-
has been sippingperfect progressive
Past
-
sippedsimple
-
had sippedperfect
-
was sippingprogressive
-
were sippingprogressive
-
had been sippingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sip
1350–1400; Middle English sippen (v.), akin to Low German sippen to sip
Explanation
When you drink a small amount of something, you sip it. If your cocoa is extremely hot, you should probably sip it until it cools off a little bit. You may sit in a corner and sip your punch at a dull party, but when your long hike leaves you parched, it's hard to sip from your water bottle instead of guzzling. As a noun sip means "small drink," like a sip of Coke or a sip of soup. The origin of sip isn't clear, though we know it's related to the Old English supan, "take into the mouth a little at a time."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Water is your best option if you’re looking for something to sip alongside your meals.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 16, 2026
Savory cocktails have become de rigueur in recent years, and if we’re willing to sip olive or oyster brine, why not try some broth in your drink?
From Slate ● Aug. 10, 2026
Shirley Temple gets passing recognition, only via her namesake drink when the Minions visit a nightclub and sip virgin cocktails loaded with cherries.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
She also joined Madix in a meta ad for Sonic in which the two sip the fast-food chain’s new “Refreshers” and wink at their shared experiences.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 21, 2026
The waitress delivers our drinks, and Celia takes a sip of her iced tea.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
She then scoured council documents and found there had been a significant rise in the number of penalties issued in the first year the SIP car park was open.
From BBC ● May 19, 2025
The ratings provided for each SIP intervention were applied subjectively based on discussions with experts, literature research, and modelling.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 22, 2023
The crackdown was confirmed by friends and family of some of the targets, including the SIP Café Club from Mandalay.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 31, 2022
If the orders were implemented when excess deaths were on the rise, “then the results from the event study would be biased towards finding that SIP policies lead to excess deaths,” the researchers wrote.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 3, 2021
SIP sop stir-up Toorak small beer do si la sol fa me re do Nip nap wash down chops nacks oh! dear.
From The Eureka Stockade by Raffaello Carboni
Poornima, a salt pan worker, sips black tea during the day -- saying the hot drink induces sweating in the dry weather to cool the body.
From Barron's ● May 10, 2026
"You take big sips and get them down you," Keilly says.
From BBC ● Apr. 25, 2026
I sit next to her, and in between sips and bites, I learn a few things.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 27, 2026
When Laura Seymour sips coffee on her porch in rural Vermont this time of year, she’s treated to rolling hills of red, orange and yellow.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2025
Her teacup elephant, Zo, sits in her lap, stealing sips from her glass and nibbling the strawberry on her petit-cake.
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
Over the past several months, I’ve cooked, grilled, smoked, sipped and served my way through a wide range of products perfect for summer gatherings.
From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2026
I woke up in the morning to a warm California sun and hot coffee, sipped on the balcony.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 8, 2026
As she sipped a coffee, she reflected on those 21-year-old aspirations.
From BBC ● May 2, 2026
Men and women from their 20s to their 70s slurped hakka noodles and sipped pinot grigio.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
Pong and Somkit walked past expensive-looking restaurants, where diners sipped drinks under an emerald-green glow.
From "A Wish in the Dark" by Christina Soontornvat
We’re all sitting at home sipping adaptogenic mushroom tonics, journaling our feelings and politely declining invitations to any event after 7 p.m. because we’d rather optimize our sleep scores than take a tequila shot.
From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026
Unfortunately for Khan and Fabre, not everyone is sipping and spitting at Medoc.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
While sipping on his coffee and munching on extra crispy bacon and blueberry pancakes Sunday morning, Baker sat at the Otesaga Resort where the Hall of Famers stay during induction weekend.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
Two years ago, I stood at the back of a conference room in Manchester Hall, sipping a coffee and watching Andy Burnham unveil his vision for transforming technical education in Greater Manchester.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
Nixon sat alone on a couch, sipping coffee, taking notes on a yellow legal pad on his lap.
From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
