-
kitchen sink
kitchen sinknounthe final item imaginable on any extensive list of usually disparate items.
-
kitchen-sink
kitchen-sinkadjectivemarked by an indiscriminate and omnivorous use of elements.
kitchen sink
1 Americannoun
adjective
noun
-
a sink in a kitchen for washing dishes, vegetables, etc
-
everything that can be conceived of
-
(modifier) denoting a type of drama or painting of the 1950s depicting the sordid aspects of domestic reality
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of kitchen sink1
1870–75, for literal sense
Origin of kitchen-sink2
First recorded in 1940–45
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:
As if releasing a pro-stealing film in a very anti-theft corporate culture weren’t ballsy enough, radical filmmaker Boots Riley grabs everything from the kitchen sink and tosses it into the blender for “I Love Boosters.”
From Salon ● Jun. 10, 2026
“We essentially throw the kitchen sink at it,” says Haskin.
From Slate ● May 23, 2026
They could have called it the Drano Edition because they threw in the kitchen sink.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 2, 2026
Price expected the "kitchen sink from round one" and Pineiro immediately looked to start the fight on the front foot.
From BBC ● Apr. 4, 2026
I rinse off the handkerchief in the kitchen sink and reapply it.
From "Girl in the Blue Coat" by Monica Hesse
![]()
These aren’t kitchen-sink movies; they’re garbage disposal rejects, alloys composed of leftover scraps.
From Salon ● Mar. 29, 2026
Doustdar was appointed CEO of Novo Nordisk last August and has been trying to reset, or even kitchen-sink expectations ever since, lowering guidance and announcing a major restructuring of the business with 9.000 job cuts.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 4, 2026
The kitchen-sink meals taste good, save money and, happily, result in fewer dishes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 28, 2025
This series of misadventures sounds like a gritty kitchen-sink drama, commissioned by someone who feels life is just too cheerful.
From BBC ● Jan. 21, 2024
The foul odors of the kitchen-sink added to the night of horrors.
From The Best Short Stories of 1919 and the Yearbook of the American Short Story by O'Brien, Edward J. (Edward Joseph Harrington)
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.