KINK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does kink mean? 

• KINK (noun)
  The noun KINK has 5 senses:

1. a painful muscle spasm especially in the neck or back ('rick' and 'wrick' are British)

2. a sharp bend in a line produced when a line having a loop is pulled tight

3. a person with unusual sexual tastes

4. an eccentric idea

5. a difficulty or flaw in a plan or operation

  Familiarity information: KINK used as a noun is common.

• KINK (verb)
  The verb KINK has 2 senses:

1. curl tightly

2. form a curl, curve, or kink

  Familiarity information: KINK used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• KINK (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A painful muscle spasm especially in the neck or back ('rick' and 'wrick' are British)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

crick; kink; rick; wrick

Hypernyms ("kink" is a kind of...):

cramp; muscle spasm; spasm (a painful and involuntary muscular contraction)

Domain region:

Britain; Great Britain; U.K.; UK; United Kingdom; United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (a monarchy in northwestern Europe occupying most of the British Isles; divided into England and Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland; 'Great Britain' is often used loosely to refer to the United Kingdom)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A sharp bend in a line produced when a line having a loop is pulled tight

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Synonyms:

kink; twirl; twist

Hypernyms ("kink" is a kind of...):

bend; crease; crimp; flexure; fold; plication (an angular or rounded shape made by folding)

Derivation:

kink (form a curl, curve, or kink)

kink (curl tightly)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A person with unusual sexual tastes

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("kink" is a kind of...):

individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)

Derivation:

kinky ((used of sexual behavior) showing or appealing to bizarre or deviant tastes)

Sense 4

Meaning:

An eccentric idea

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("kink" is a kind of...):

idea; thought (the content of cognition; the main thing you are thinking about)

Derivation:

kinky ((informal) strikingly unconventional)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A difficulty or flaw in a plan or operation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Context example:

there are still a few kinks to iron out

Hypernyms ("kink" is a kind of...):

difficulty (a factor causing trouble in achieving a positive result or tending to produce a negative result)

• KINK (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they kink    ... he / she / it kinks   
Past simple: kinked   
Past participle: kinked   
-ing form: kinking   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Curl tightly

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

crape; crimp; frizz; frizzle; kink; kink up

Context example:

crimp hair

Hypernyms (to "kink" is one way to...):

curl; wave (twist or roll into coils or ringlets)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

They kink their hair

Derivation:

kink (a sharp bend in a line produced when a line having a loop is pulled tight)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Form a curl, curve, or kink

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

curl; curve; kink

Context example:

the cigar smoke curled up at the ceiling

Hypernyms (to "kink" is one way to...):

change surface (undergo or cause to undergo a change in the surface)

"Kink" entails doing...:

bend; deform; flex; turn; twist (cause (a plastic object) to assume a crooked or angular form)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

kink (a sharp bend in a line produced when a line having a loop is pulled tight)

 Context examples 

This domain can recognize and bind to altered DNA conformations, such as stem-loops, four-way junctions, and specifically kinked or underwound DNA. (Mol Cell Biol 1999 Aug;19(8):5237-46)

(HMG-Box, NCI Thesaurus)

Agents that are capable of inserting themselves between the successive bases in DNA, thus kinking, uncoiling or otherwise deforming it and therefore preventing its proper functioning.

(DNA Intercalating Agent, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

Issue associated with an undesired bulge, bend, bow, kink, or wavy condition observed in the device material resulting from compressive stresses.

(Buckled Medical Device Material, Food and Drug Administration)

And I suppose he might have broke his neck by falling out of bed, if he got in an awkward kink.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The bond geometry of the molecule induces a kink in the main axis of the aliphatic chain at the n-6 position.

(Octadecadienoic Acid n-6 trans, NCI Thesaurus)

From the height where we were it was possible to see a great distance; and far off, beyond the white waste of snow, I could see the river lying like a black ribbon in kinks and curls as it wound its way.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)