Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A tight curl, twist, or bend in a length of thin material, as one caused by the tensing of a looped section of wire.
- noun A painful muscle spasm, as in the neck or back; a crick.
- noun A difficulty or flaw that is likely to impede operation, as in a plan or system.
- noun A mental peculiarity; a quirk.
- noun An unusual or eccentric idea.
- noun Slang Peculiarity or deviation in sexual behavior or taste.
- intransitive & transitive verb To form or cause to form a kink or kinks.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To form kinks; twist or contract into knots.
- To become entangled: said of a line.
- To laugh loudly.
- To gasp for breath as in a severe fit of coughing: especially applied to the noisy inspiration of breath in whooping-cough.
- noun A convulsive fit of coughing or laughter; a sonorous indraft of the breath; the whoop in whooping-cough; a gasping for breath caused by coughing, laughing, or crying.
- noun A knot-like contraction or curl in a thread, cord, or rope, or in a hair, wire, or chain, resulting from its being twisted or doubled upon itself, or from the nature of the material. Also
kinkle . - noun An unreasonable and obstinate notion; a crotchet; a whim.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A twist or loop in a rope or thread, caused by a spontaneous doubling or winding upon itself; a close loop or curl; a doubling in a cord.
- noun colloq. An unreasonable notion; a crotchet; a whim; a caprice.
- noun Scot. A fit of coughing; also, a convulsive fit of laughter.
- intransitive verb To wind into a kink; to knot or twist spontaneously upon itself, as a rope or thread.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb To
laugh loudly. - verb To
gasp for breath as in a severe fit ofcoughing . - noun A convulsive
fit of coughing or laughter; a sonorousindraft of breath; awhoop ; agasp of breath caused by laughing, coughing, or crying. - noun A
tight curl ,twist , orbend in alength ofthin material ,hair etc. - noun A
difficulty orflaw that is likely toimpede operation , as in aplan orsystem . - noun slang
Peculiarity ordeviation insexual behaviour ortaste . - noun Scotland, dialect A
fit ofcoughing orlaughter . - noun mathematics A
positive 1-soliton solution to the Sine–Gordon equation - verb transitive To
form a kink. - verb intransitive To be formed into a kink.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb form a curl, curve, or kink
- noun a person with unusual sexual tastes
- noun a difficulty or flaw in a plan or operation
- noun a painful muscle spasm especially in the neck or back (`rick' and `wrick' are British)
- noun a sharp bend in a line produced when a line having a loop is pulled tight
- noun an eccentric idea
- verb curl tightly
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word kink.
Examples
-
I'm hoping the kink is worked out for Ohios opener a week from today.
-
I'm hoping the kink is worked out for Ohios opener a week from today.
-
I think that's fair, since what's one person's kink is majorly disturbing to someone else.
Supernatural Fic Rec rabid1st 2009
-
Many, many straight people think of bisexual women as essentially straight with a kink, which is unfair.
Biphobia in the GLBT community from a bi man’s point of view 2005
-
Its Literature and Art have what one might call the kink of the unseen about them, and this persists even through decadence and affectation.
Howards End 1924
-
Its Literature and Art have what one might call the kink of the unseen about them, and this persists even through decadence and affectation.
Howards End Forster, E. M. 1910
-
Receiving $5000 is a gain that resets their reference wealth level (the position of the 'kink' in their utility function).
Collective vs. Individual Benefits, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009
-
In a lot of ways, 'kink' in fandom has come to be about pressing the buttons of the reader, sometimes erotically, sometimes otherwise.
the origin of the kink meme hradzka 2010
-
"That kind of kink's too subtle to show up on a scan."
Wonder Woman and the Lasso of Truth Boudreau Freret 2010
-
The only kind of kink I like is none of your damn business. am: You are probably asking yourself why I don't just go ahead and press one. am: I TRIED that.
-
In Canada we call it a heat kink bc the steel tracks get really hot n it expands, also in the winter whenever the steel tracks get cold they shrink
Guys they mentioned Thermal Expansion SGJDJFFKFJFBCJCJDJFJEIW9WO 🫠🫠🥳🥳🥳🥳 Darth_Caesium 2025
-
“As rails get hotter, what you see, especially on mainline class one tracks, is concerns about thermal expansion, which is the new term for heat kink,” Henry Bendon, a spokesperson for the transit agency, told KUOW.
'Heat kink' could delay light rail on hot days in King County Casey Martin 2025
vanishedone commented on the word kink
This strikes me as another less-than-obvious definition, but then I'm a Brit. A Brit who speaks of having a crick in the neck.
November 29, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word kink
I've heard that expression as well, but I think most Americans would say a crick is something that rises when it rains a lot. As in, "God willing and the crick don't rise." (An expression I find very cute.)
Which makes me wonder, actually, if it's "and" or "an," in the Shakespearean sense--that is, "an" meaning "if." "God willing an the crick don't rise" means something a little different than "and the crick don't rise."
I got rather off-track here, but anyway...
November 29, 2007