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
  • Sure, Italians look darn elegant and effortless sipping a spritz, but that cigar ring clinking the glass is purposefully chosen and those sunglasses (likely bought at the local ottica) weren’t just a quick find at a gas station.
    Nneya Richards, Travel + Leisure, 30 Mar. 2025
  • Kendall Jenner clinks glasses with Billy Dec at the Blueprint Underground Cocktail Club in Nashville, Tennessee on March 13.
    Escher Walcott, People.com, 22 Mar. 2025
Noun
  • There were hits with a bamboo clatter stick, which projects a rattling sound.
    Graham Womack, Sacbee.com, 5 Apr. 2025
  • 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
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
  • Samara Cohen, Chief Investment Officer of ETF and Index Investments at Blackrock, (C) rings the opening bell as Bitcoin Spot ETF’s are launched on the Nasdaq Exchange on January 11, 2024 in New York City.
    Kevin Stankiewicz, CNBC, 11 Apr. 2025
  • The venue was ringed by ample restaurants, but when Warrier finished, around 11 p.m., they were all closed.
    Théoden Janes, Charlotte Observer, 9 Apr. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Tinkle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tinkle. Accessed 24 Apr. 2025.

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