to drink (a liquid) a little at a time; take small tastes of.
He sipped the hot tea noisily.
to drink from a little at a time.
The bird sipped the flower.
to take in; absorb.
to sip knowledge at its source.
an instance of sipping; a small taste of a liquid.
One sip told me that the milk was sour.
a small quantity taken by sipping.
Take just a sip, not a gulp or a swallow.
a small quantity of a liquid taken into the mouth and swallowed
an act of sipping
See drink.
1350–1400; Middle English sippen (v.), akin to Low German sippen to sip
When you drink a small amount of something, you sip it. If your cocoa is extremely hot, you should probably sip it until it cools off a little bit. You may sit in a corner and sip your punch at a dull party, but when your long hike leaves you parched, it's hard to sip from your water bottle instead of guzzling. As a noun sip means "small drink," like a sip of Coke or a sip of soup. The origin of sip isn't clear, though we know it's related to the Old English supan, "take into the mouth a little at a time."
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Soon after, we discover Z speaks Latin and French with ease and that his ideal first date involves transporting his soft target to Paris to sip Kir Royales by the Seine.
From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2026
She also wants to add a water feature where birds and butterflies can bathe and sip, and she plans to plant more berries to attract more pollinators.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 10, 2026
She also joined Madix in a meta ad for Sonic in which the two sip the fast-food chain’s new “Refreshers” and wink at their shared experiences.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 21, 2026
"I didn't drink fluids for two weeks when I was in ICU, and I just remember having that sip of fresh clean water was the best thing I ever tasted in my life."
From BBC ● May 7, 2026
I blow on it and take a grateful sip.
From "The Light in Hidden Places" by Sharon Cameron
The ratings provided for each SIP intervention were applied subjectively based on discussions with experts, literature research, and modelling.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 22, 2023
The crackdown was confirmed by friends and family of some of the targets, including the SIP Café Club from Mandalay.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 31, 2022
Whenever a corporate phone network makes a call, a VoIP provider hands over the call from the internet to the phone networks - a technology called "SIP trunking".
From BBC ● Oct. 24, 2021
If the orders were implemented when excess deaths were on the rise, “then the results from the event study would be biased towards finding that SIP policies lead to excess deaths,” the researchers wrote.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 3, 2021
SIP sop stir-up Toorak small beer do si la sol fa me re do Nip nap wash down chops nacks oh! dear.
From The Eureka Stockade by Carboni, Raffaello
Poornima, a salt pan worker, sips black tea during the day -- saying the hot drink induces sweating in the dry weather to cool the body.
From Barron's ● May 10, 2026
She sips tea throughout the interview in an effort to protect her voice, which is "really delicate" - not from the concerts, but because "I've been talking too much to my friends".
From BBC ● Feb. 23, 2026
On the day after Christmas, Caldeira drives past Santas and reindeer that have already begun to deflate as he listens to audio books and sips his berry energy drink.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 31, 2025
Less smug but still rather inscrutable, he sips on tea and evades answering Arisu’s question directly, instead turning the tables.
From Salon ● Sep. 26, 2025
She holds the base of Princess Sabine's teacup, helping her take larger sips.
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
Over the past several months, I’ve cooked, grilled, smoked, sipped and served my way through a wide range of products perfect for summer gatherings.
From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2026
In front of the cafe, 36-year-old army veteran Dmytro sipped an espresso, despite the ashes swirling around him.
From Barron's ● May 25, 2026
I woke up in the morning to a warm California sun and hot coffee, sipped on the balcony.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 8, 2026
As she sipped a coffee, she reflected on those 21-year-old aspirations.
From BBC ● May 2, 2026
Somkit poured green syrup into his glass of fizzy water and sipped it.
From "A Wish in the Dark" by Christina Soontornvat
I’m sipping coffee out of my “embarrassing” Starbucks mug as I write this and thinking about the climb up the Arc de Triomphe with my daughter on her first visit last year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026
Meaning he won’t spend the time between now and Nov. 3 at some swank beach resort, sipping one of those colorful cocktails with a little paper parasol while musing over his inaugural address.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 7, 2026
Up top are mellow selections made for sipping soda or soju.
From Salon ● Jun. 6, 2026
The best times to encounter them are at dawn or dusk, when most tourists are sleeping or sipping caipirinhas.
From Slate ● May 27, 2026
They passed a couple of tea shops, where men sat outside sipping cups of coriander tea and talking.
From "The Boy Who Met a Whale" by Nizrana Farook
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.
