kitchen sink
noun
the final item imaginable on any extensive list of usually disparate items.
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kitchen sink
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kitchen-sink
kitchen-sinkadjectivemarked by an indiscriminate and omnivorous use of elements.
kitchen sink
1 Americannoun
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kitchen sinks
plural
kitchen-sink
2
American
[kich-uhn-singk]
/ ˈkɪtʃ ənˈsɪŋk /
adjective
kitchen sink
British
noun
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a sink in a kitchen for washing dishes, vegetables, etc
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everything that can be conceived of
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(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:
In other words, they throw in everything but the kitchen sink into their calculations.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 28, 2026
In that 35-pitch first inning, Glasnow threw the kitchen sink at the Braves.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
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
He braced himself in the cabin doorway, watching Vola pump water into the kitchen sink.
From "Pax" by Sara Pennypacker
For another horror film, one with less demonstrated interest in getting under the audience’s skin, this kitchen-sink climax could make for a memorable final act.
From Salon ● Mar. 15, 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
It was also the spiritual birthplace of the kitchen-sink drama.
From BBC ● Jan. 17, 2025
Scarcely had the king gone when the queen-mother sent for a mason, and made him build a wall near the kitchen-sink, so that it formed a sort of box.
From Italian Popular Tales by Thomas Frederick Crane
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
