chink
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A narrow opening as e.g.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
chingkIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈtʃɪŋk
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A narrow opening as e.g. between planks in a wall
A narrow opening such as a fissure or crack.
A narrow beam or patch of light admitted by such an opening.
A chip or dent in something metallic.
countable
A slight sound as of metal objects touching each other; a clink.
figuratively
A vulnerability or flaw in a protection system or in any otherwise formidable system.
verb
transitive
To fill an opening such as the space between logs in a log house with chinking; to caulk.
transitive
To cause to open in cracks or fissures.
Make or emit a high sound
intransitive
To make a slight sound like that of metal objects touching.
transitive
To cause to make a sharp metallic sound, as coins, small pieces of metal, etc., by bringing them into collision with each other.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A narrow opening as e.g. between planks in a wall
Used this way, chink is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.