tinkle 1 of 2

as in rattle
a series of short high ringing sounds the soothing tinkle of the wind chime on the back porch

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tinkle

2 of 2

verb

as in to clink
to make a repeated sharp light ringing sound the bell around the cat's neck tinkled as he ran across the yard

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of tinkle
Noun
Outside the window, light glints off the pool, and a stone waterfall tinkles. Alex Morris, Rolling Stone, 17 Apr. 2023 Some of the nuts landed with a metallic tinkle. Kiliii Yüyan, History & Culture, 17 Dec. 2020
Verb
Soft music tinkled in the white marble lobby, where there was hardly a soul walking in or out on a summer workday. Paula Aceves, Curbed, 31 Oct. 2024 Gone is Greenwell’s glittering ceremony, the long sentences tinkling with semicolons. Parul Sehgal, The New Yorker, 9 Sep. 2024 See All Example Sentences for tinkle
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tinkle
Noun
  • Nailing a loose floorboard into the joist below should eliminate the rattle or squeak.
    Clark Hodgin, New York Times, 28 Mar. 2025
  • Researchers also found a wooden rattle that was used as a gas alarm in the crater of a bomb explosion.
    Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 4 Mar. 2025
Verb
  • As seen in a video shared on X by royal reporter Rebecca English, the King and Queen clinked their drinks together before sipping it down in one go.
    Janine Henni, People.com, 19 Mar. 2025
  • But hey, the man clearly loves love and clinks his champagne glass until the happy couple performs another painful-looking kiss.
    Sara Netzley, EW.com, 4 Feb. 2025
Noun
  • The solid construction of this slick pair of cans combines with the brand’s excellent adaptive noise-canceling technology to block out almost all the ambient clatter in your environment.
    Robert Ross, Robb Report, 26 Mar. 2025
  • You're seated up high, deafened by the clatter and bangs from the empty, boxy body, which, again, is exactly like that built on a traditional truck.
    Tim Stevens, Ars Technica, 22 Feb. 2025
Verb
  • Men dressed as 1880s gunfighters are forever clomping up and down wooden sidewalks with jingling spurs and holstered revolvers on their belts.
    Richard Grant, Smithsonian Magazine, 31 Mar. 2025
  • The first half of the instrumental sounds like wind chimes jingling around in a storm.
    Alphonse Pierre, Pitchfork, 28 Feb. 2025
Noun
  • Though this installation of tintinnabulation has been a feature of the garden for more than a decade, some frequent visitors only noticed the chimes this summer, when a small crew recently installed them in a large linden tree adjacent to Parade Stadium.
    Kim Hyatt, Star Tribune, 23 July 2021
  • Shivaree, chthonian, erumpent, tintinnabulation, exonumia, requiescat, deipnosophist, omphaloskepsis, horripilation, deliquesce, apopemptic.
    Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 26 Oct. 2021
Verb
  • For a player who’s as aggressive down the field as Ward tends to be, that rings even truer.
    Derrik Klassen, The Athletic, 25 Mar. 2025
  • When World Series tickets went on sale to the non-season-ticket-holding public, thousands ringed Fenway Park for a shot at the leftovers.
    Bill Speros, Boston Herald, 23 Mar. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Tinkle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tinkle. Accessed 14 Apr. 2025.

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