slink
Americanverb (used without object)
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slinks,
present (3rd person singular)
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slunk,
past participle, past
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slank,
past (Archaic)
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slinking
present participle
verb (used with object)
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slinks,
present (3rd person singular)
-
slunk,
past participle, past
-
slank,
past (Archaic)
-
slinking
present participle
noun
adjective
verb
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(intr) to move or act in a furtive or cringing manner from or as if from fear, guilt, etc
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(intr) to move in a sinuous alluring manner
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(tr) (of animals, esp cows) to give birth to prematurely
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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slinksimple
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slinkssimple
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have slunkperfect
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has slunkperfect
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am slinkingprogressive
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are slinkingprogressive
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is slinkingprogressive
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have been slinkingperfect progressive
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has been slinkingperfect progressive
Past
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slanksimple
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slunksimple
-
had slunkperfect
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was slinkingprogressive
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were slinkingprogressive
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had been slinkingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of slink
First recorded before 1150; Middle English slynken (verb), Old English slincan “to creep, crawl”; cognate with Low German slinken, German schlinken
Explanation
When you slink, you move in a deliberately quiet and sneaky way. You might slink into your physics class, hoping the teacher won't notice how late you are. Kids playing hide and seek will sometimes slink around the house, quietly searching for good hiding spots, and wild animals tend to slink through the woods or fields when they're stalking prey or trying to avoid becoming prey themselves. Slink comes from the Old English word slincan, "to creep or crawl," which was mostly used to describe the movements of reptiles.
Vocabulary lists containing slink
Stargirl
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Because of Mr. Terupt
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The Wild Robot
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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:
Kantenga laughed when I posed it to him, saying his usual gut reaction to the question is to slink away like the meme of Homer Simpson retreating into the bushes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
It might seem like it would be more sensible for this ritual to take place after the game, for the victors to stage a triumphant, high-style parade and for everyone else to slink out, unnoticed.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 13, 2026
But each time the net seemed to be closing in on Neukgu, he would slink off the radar.
From BBC ● Apr. 15, 2026
A national punchline, Garvey was forced to slink out of the limelight.
From Slate ● May 29, 2024
I just wanted to slink out of there as quickly as I could before anyone entered the store who knew Mom or Dad and might mention they saw me there.
From "Dead End in Norvelt" by Jack Gantos
He slinks along a wall, scales a cliff, navigates drain pipes and leaps up and down from his preferred perch—behind the left shoulder of Din Djarin, aka the Mandalorian warrior.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026
Tara just slinks away into a depressive state that barely anyone notices.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 30, 2024
Even after this iconic piece of Tennessee real estate has become her home, Priscilla slinks through its rooms like a stranger, as quiet and unnoticed as a phantom.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2023
The suave Morales slinks through the film making his unflappable villain alluring.
From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2023
Instead of dust and tumbleweeds, mist slinks over the surface.
From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera
First the buttons: thack-thack; then the lever: slank.
From Time Magazine Archive
German carp slank into his yard, began to feed upon the carrots, the asparagus.
From Time Magazine Archive
The rear was even worse, as men slank off from it at every opportunity.
From The War With the United States : A Chronicle of 1812 by H. H. (Hugh Hornby) Langton
Gosh, he gave them a talking to, and they slank away.
From Living Alone by Stella Benson
In an evil hour for his own chances Joe Harley chose that worse counsel, and slank off in his familiar crouching fashion towards the opposite corner of the copse.
From Strange Stories by Grant Allen
When the leathery beast slunk off, singer James Hetfield dedicated the track to the band’s founding bassist, who died in a tour bus crash in 1986.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2026
Afterward, with the help of remaining friends, he slunk off to the U.S. in 1876, where he taught in Massachusetts for a while, then took up as a freelance newspaper writer in Chicago.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025
Hudson was right that, in the three years since New York magazine's cover story caused so much controversy, nepo babies haven't slunk off into the background.
From BBC ● May 2, 2025
This is what first slunk out of Paul’s imagination: “A man dressed as a bat sitting in a hot tub full of mashed potatoes.”
From Slate ● Feb. 4, 2025
But they all slunk into the city without being stopped.
From "The Horse and His Boy" by C.S. Lewis
The hush-hush raves that require knowing someone and slinking into condemned warehouses have always happened alongside parties thrown by big-name promoters.
From Slate ● Jun. 25, 2026
The album was “Transference,” its cover a grainy seventies tableau — a boy slinking low in a golden wingback chair, viridian curtains pooling behind him, a table lamp casting an almost aggressively orange glow.
From Salon ● Dec. 30, 2025
Once, coming down the hillside, I was stopped by a family of coyotes slinking across the trail.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 7, 2024
K-Ming Chang’s taut novella “Cecilia” explores the intensity of desire by slinking along the razor-thin line between love and obsession, between the desire to cuddle someone or consume them.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 3, 2024
They creep out the door, one dribble, two dribble, slinking along the side of the building.
From "The Unfinished Angel" by Sharon Creech
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.
