clank
Americannoun
verb (used without object)
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to make such a sound.
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to move with such sounds.
The old jalopy clanked up the hill.
verb (used with object)
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to cause to make a sharp sound, as metal in collision.
He clanked the shovel against the pail.
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to place, put, set, etc., with a clank.
to clank the cell door shut.
noun
verb
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to make or cause to make such a sound
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(intr) to move or operate making such a sound
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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clanksimple
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clankssimple
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have clankedperfect
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has clankedperfect
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am clankingprogressive
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are clankingprogressive
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is clankingprogressive
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have been clankingperfect progressive
-
has been clankingperfect progressive
Past
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clankedsimple
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had clankedperfect
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was clankingprogressive
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were clankingprogressive
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had been clankingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of clank
First recorded in 1605–15, clank is from the Dutch word klank sound
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:
It’s already quite hot inside my shoebox apartment as the radiators clank away, drowning out my upstairs neighbor’s heavy footsteps with their cacophonous symphony.
From Salon ● Feb. 7, 2026
The clank of this supposed breakthrough idea is as inelegant as the meandering storytelling.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 11, 2025
"It feels like a prison," he says as the gates clank shut behind him.
From BBC ● Dec. 8, 2025
USC then drove to the 10-yard line with seconds left in the half, only for kicker Ryon Sayeri to clank a 27-yard field-goal attempt off the goalpost.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 22, 2025
The clank of the cocking mechanism cut through the cascade of the rain.
From "The Reader" by Traci Chee
In the bloopers, he clanks about 20 beforehand.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 15, 2023
The barge also retains fixtures from Panto’s days: Patinated rigging blocks hang from the ceiling; a century-old bell clanks when the barge jerks.
From New York Times ● Jun. 9, 2023
Yet they can’t do any of this while Westbrook and his clanks and his complaining are allowed to create a sort of mud into which this shiny new car’s back tires are sinking.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2022
We discern distinct melodies linking the clanks and buzzes of Song Sparrow songs, sentencelike structure in the Red-winged Blackbird’s pronouncement of conk-la-ree! and a cheery whistle in the wide-open-beaked songs of the White-throated Sparrow.
From Scientific American ● May 4, 2022
Metal clanks like a rattling silverware drawer for a long time, before it stops and levels off into a steady purr.
From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera
But as silky smooth as the sequence looked — and as strange as a slump from Watkins seemed — the step-back clanked away.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 31, 2025
Mittelstadt’s goal, batted out of the air, clanked off the front of the mask of Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck, one of the league’s best goalies, off Jets defenseman Brenden Dillon and into the net.
From Seattle Times ● May 2, 2024
He smiled as another shell clanked into the dumpster.
From New York Times ● Jul. 6, 2023
His drive clanked off the foul pole in front of the second deck, turning a Yankees runaway into what became an Orioles thriller.
From Washington Times ● May 25, 2023
He was a sixteen-year-old Toyota Corolla with a paint color called Mystic Teal Mica and an engine that clanked in a steady rhythm like the beating of his immaculate metallic heart.
From "Turtles All the Way Down" by John Green
As the din of clanking metal dims, the smell of grease and exhaust lingers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
Coronado climbed a ladder up the pueblo walls in his clanking armor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 28, 2026
The clanking of glass bottles can be heard in the security footage.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2025
"So that means we're going to see lights and hear lorries and cars and clanking about," says Jenny Upson, 74, a Felixstowe Road resident for 17 years.
From BBC ● Mar. 16, 2025
“The plane shook violently,” he later said, “rattling and clanking as if someone had thrown a bucket of nuts and bolts into the engine.”
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.
