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Synonyms

sink in

British  

verb

  1. (intr, adverb) to enter or penetrate the mind

    eventually the news sank in
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
sink in Idioms  

  1. Penetrate the mind, be absorbed, as in The news of the crash didn't sink in right away. [Late 1300s]

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.

Mandy said her ordeal did not really sink in for a few days.

From BBC • Apr. 14, 2026

Back in Iran, a sense of the inevitable had begun to sink in for many there.

From Barron's • Apr. 12, 2026

A few days later the magnitude of the assignment began to sink in.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 26, 2026

“Let this sink in for a moment — zero job growth versus an average of almost 2 million for the 10 years prior to 2025,” he said.

From MarketWatch • Jan. 30, 2026

I stared at the countertop and let that sink in.

From "Made You Up" by Francesca Zappia

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.