Meaning of kitchen sink | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A sink in a kitchen used for washing crockery, cutlery, utensils, food, etc., and disposing of waste.
2. A miscellaneous item or a miscellany, especially exemplifying an indiscriminate profusion.
   also, attributive, figuratively
3. In chained or tied to the kitchen sink, etc.: domestic chores or housework, especially when regarded as menial and tedious.
   figuratively, metonymically
4. A thing regarded as defiled due to corruption, immorality, etc.
   figuratively, obsolete

Equivalents

Examples

“The kitchen sink⟳ was piled high with dirty dishes.”

“They threw the kitchen sink⟳ at the problem, but still couldn’t fix⟳ it.”

“The April 1994 issue⟳ of Washingtonian ran an article by my friend Andrew Ferguson about corporate "multicultural training". Andy quoted one of the trainers (or facilitators, as they like⟳ to be called), whose job it is to instill "sensitivity" about age, race⟳, gender, disability, sexual orientation, and the kitchen sink⟳ into employees of Washington businesses: […]”

“The morning shows are now kitchen sinks, sometimes setting the network's news agenda for the day with interviews […] but always repeating bits of the previous night's newscasts, while promoting what's going to air on that night's shows.”

“How good are you at packing a car's trunk? Decide⟳ how big a challenge⟳ you want⟳, then choose⟳ your cards to find⟳ out which of the crazy items – everything from a spare⟳ tire⟳ to the kitchen sink⟳ – you need⟳ to cram in.”

“It's been 20 years since "Drinking in L.A." and Bran Van 3000's eclectic debut Glee dropped back in February 1997, when the group's hip, kitschy, kitchen-sink esthetic and genre-defying mixtape intoxication were so en vogue that even Madonna was drawn into the bidding war.”

“Jack used to be a clever man, though I say⟳ so who shouldn't. Government has eaten him up. All his ideas and powers of conversation—he really used to be a good talker, even to his wife, in the old days—are taken from him by this—this kitchen-sink of a Government. That's the case with every man up here who is at work⟳.”

CEFR level