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kink

noun · verb

Simple meaning

Peculiarity or deviation in sexual behaviour or taste.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

kingk
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈkɪŋk

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. Peculiarity or deviation in sexual behaviour or taste.

  2. A difficulty or flaw in a plan or operation

    “There are still a few kinks to iron out.”

  3. Any sexual preference outside normal or expected norms.

  4. A person with unusual sexual tastes

  5. A person with peculiar sexual tastes.

  6. A tight curl, twist, or bend in a length of thin material, hair etc.

verb

  1. To laugh loudly.

  2. To gasp for breath as in a severe fit of coughing.

  3. Form a curl, curve, or kink

  4. transitive

    To form a kink or twist.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C2 · Proficient (estimated)
Frequency
Uncommon
Formality
Technical

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Peculiarity or deviation in sexual behaviour or taste.

Used this way, kink 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.

More ways to use kink

  • “There are still a few kinks to iron out.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

kink bandkink sitedouble kinksharp kinkkink modekink pairkink effectsmall kink

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • kink upverbCompound term

    Curl tightly.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: to laugh loudly

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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.