MEANING
1. To make a light, clear, high-pitched ringing sound.
2. To urinate.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- glasses tinkle
- bells tinkle
On the page
Glasses tinkled behind the curtain as the staff cleared the last table.
Nearby words
Word forms
- Base
- tinkle
- Past tense
- tinkled
- Past participle
- tinkled
- Present participle
- tinkling
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- tinkle
- Present continuous
- am/is/are tinkling
- Present perfect
- have/has tinkled
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been tinkling
- Past
- tinkled
- Past continuous
- was/were tinkling
- Past perfect
- had tinkled
- Past perfect continuous
- had been tinkling
- Future
- will tinkle
- Future continuous
- will be tinkling
- Future perfect
- will have tinkled
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been tinkling
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
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Usage notes
Primary category: sensory / description. Forms: tinkle; tinkles; tinkled; tinkled; tinkling Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: description. Commonness: moderately common. Third-person singular: tinkles.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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