drink
Americanverb (used without object)
-
drinks,
present (3rd person singular)
-
drunk,
past participle, past
-
drank,
past, past participle
-
drinking
present participle
-
to take water or other liquid into the mouth and swallow it; imbibe.
-
to imbibe alcoholic drinks, especially habitually or to excess; tipple: They won't find jobs until they stop drinking.
He never drinks.
They won't find jobs until they stop drinking.
- Synonyms:
- tope
-
to show one's respect, affection, or hopes with regard to a person, thing, or event by ceremoniously taking a swallow of wine or some other drink (often followed byto ).
They drank to his victory.
-
to be savored or enjoyed by drinking.
a wine that will drink deliciously for many years.
verb (used with object)
-
drinks,
present (3rd person singular)
-
drunk,
past participle, past
-
drank,
past, past participle
-
drinking
present participle
-
to take (a liquid) into the mouth and swallow.
- Synonyms:
- quaff
-
to take in (a liquid) in any manner; absorb.
-
to take in through the senses, especially with eagerness and pleasure (often followed byin ).
He drank in the beauty of the scene.
-
to swallow the contents of (a cup, glass, etc.).
-
to propose or participate in a toast to (a person, thing, or event).
to drink one's health.
- Synonyms:
- toast
noun
-
drinks
plural
-
any liquid that is swallowed to quench thirst, for nourishment, etc.; beverage.
-
excessive indulgence in alcohol.
Drink was his downfall.
-
a swallow or draft of liquid; potion.
She took a drink of water before she spoke.
-
Informal. Usually the drink a large body of water, as a lake, ocean, river, etc..
His teammates threw him in the drink.
verb
-
to swallow (a liquid); imbibe
-
(tr) to take in or soak up (liquid); absorb
this plant drinks a lot of water
-
to pay close attention (to); be fascinated (by)
he drank in the speaker's every word
-
(tr) to bring (oneself into a certain condition) by consuming alcohol
-
to dispose of or ruin by excessive expenditure on alcohol
he drank away his fortune
-
(intr) to consume alcohol, esp to excess
-
to drink (a toast) in celebration, honour, or hope (of)
-
to be able to drink more intoxicating beverage than someone
-
to salute or celebrate with a toast
-
informal to drink alone
noun
-
liquid suitable for drinking; any beverage
-
alcohol or its habitual or excessive consumption
-
a portion of liquid for drinking; draught
-
informal the sea
Usage
As with many verbs of the pattern sing, sang, sung and ring, rang, rung, there is some confusion about the forms for the past tense and past participle of drink. The historical reason for this confusion is that originally verbs of this class in Old English had a past-tense singular form in a but a past-tense plural form in u. Generally the form in a has leveled out to become the standard past-tense form: We drank our coffee. However, the past-tense form in u, though considered nonstandard, occurs often in speech: We drunk our coffee. The standard and most frequent form of the past participle of drink in both speech and writing is drunk : Who has drunk all the milk? However, perhaps because of the association of drunk with intoxication, drank is widely used as a past participle in speech by educated persons and must be considered an alternate standard form: The tourists had drank their fill of the scenery.
Commonly Confused
See drunk ( def. ).
Synonym Usage
Drink, imbibe, sip refer to swallowing liquids. Drink is the general word: to drink coffee. Imbibe is formal in reference to actual drinking; it is used more often in the sense to absorb: to imbibe culture. Sip implies drinking little by little: to sip a cup of broth.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
drinksimple
-
drinkssimple
-
have drankperfect
-
have drunkperfect
-
has drankperfect
-
has drunkperfect
-
am drinkingprogressive
-
are drinkingprogressive
-
is drinkingprogressive
-
have been drinkingperfect progressive
-
has been drinkingperfect progressive
Past
-
dranksimple
-
drunksimple
-
had drankperfect
-
had drunkperfect
-
was drinkingprogressive
-
were drinkingprogressive
-
had been drinkingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of drink
First recorded before 900; Middle English drinken, Old English drincan; cognate with Dutch drinken, German trinken, Gothic drinkan, Old Norse drekka
Explanation
To drink is to sip, slurp, or gulp a liquid. On extremely hot days, it's important to drink plenty of water. When you ingest any liquid, you drink it, although the verb drink is very often used to refer specifically to the sipping and swallowing of alcoholic beverages. If a bartender asks, "Do you drink?" she probably means "Do you drink alcohol?" A drink, likewise, can mean any beverage — tea, water, or lemonade — or it can mean an alcoholic one. The Old English root, drincan means both "to drink" and "to engulf."
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 old-school New York and always feels a little glamorous and mischievous, exactly how a pre-dinner drink should feel.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
The fifth-year player later said that his invisible drink was actually Gatorade.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
The Fed, which sets the price of every drink in the house, had a week, too.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 7, 2026
Studies also suggest that not everyone gets hang-xiety, and the level of anxiety does not neatly correlate with how much you drink the night before.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
And now Oliver Archer was going to drink my grandma’s cocoa.
From "Bye Forever, I Guess" by Jodi Meadows
Starbucks Energy Refreshers drinks, which are served cold, could be served up with a burrito bowl in the afternoon or evening at Chipotle, for instance, she said.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026
The room had been fitted out with six poker tables, a large prize wheel, seating areas, and fridges stocked with drinks and snacks.
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
“Nobody understands how hard it is,” said Singh, who was hauling soft drinks from Houston to Mississippi Thursday.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026
Researchers found that these drinks were comparable to water in supporting both weight loss and long-term weight maintenance.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 4, 2026
Akira ran first to the refrigerator, where she found cans of soft drinks for her and Sue.
From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz
If it shrinks, you’ll know who drank the 24 cents.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 7, 2026
Partygoers drank champagne and snacked on miniature lobster rolls, and cheered when Jaguar played a video of the Type 01 driving through the streets of Manhattan and appearing to arrive at the venue.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
“Hell yeah, I drank with him,” one of the men told NBC.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2026
"Logic says it's lighter to carry back once you've eaten and drank it all than it is to carry it out there," said Lally.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
When there was milk, we bled a cow, mixed the blood with the milk, and drank it.
From "Facing the Lion" by Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton and Herman Viola
“Do we hold bars responsible for the things drunk people do on public sidewalks?”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
Testing by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation showed that two people had drunk from the bottle, leaving a mixture of their DNA.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
You’ve seen it, I’ve seen it, your second cousin who gets too drunk at every family wedding has seen it.
From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2026
Shevels, who the court heard was known in the town of Crook to be a nuisance when drunk, annoyed the Greensmith family by sitting nearby and trying to talk to them.
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026
I noticed then she hadn’t drunk anything again from her glass of water, and scolded her gently, which she was quite used to by now.
From "An Elephant in the Garden" by Michael Morpurgo
National fraternities and many colleges and universities have sought to curb the worst excesses of fraternities by banning hazing, curbing drinking and instituting extensive workshops on consent for incoming first-year students.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
“I wasn’t drinking beer in my celebration,” Juszczyk told reporters on Sept. 24.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
To prepare for the winter and possible disruptions, the city has been building backup heating systems and stockpiling fuel, food and drinking water, he said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
Last month Burnham floated the prospect of lifting the ban on football fans drinking in the stands, though it was quickly clarified that this is not in fact government policy.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
We wear our coats to bed, huddling together beneath the blanket while the wind moans, drinking hot water for breakfast because there is no tea.
From "The Light in Hidden Places" by Sharon Cameron
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.
