What's the difference between quicksand and sink?

Quicksand


Definition:

  • (n.) Sand easily moved or readily yielding to pressure; especially, a deep mass of loose or moving sand mixed with water, sometimes found at the mouth of a river or along some coasts, and very dangerous, from the difficulty of extricating a person who begins sinking into it.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) She says that, while she stayed away from the more difficult ramifications of that upbringing, she nevertheless plunged right into the "hot quicksand" of the Arab-Israeli conflict, right down into the Biblical roots of Jewish-Muslim conflict in the story of Abraham, Hagar, Isaac and Ishmael (which she meditates upon in the opera's Hagar chorus), and into the vortex of questions about Israel's right to exist and what motivates terrorists.
  • (2) If you think coalition was bad – backroom deals, cut-and-paste policymaking, good ideas lost in the quicksand between the two parties – then try the looser varieties of alliance.
  • (3) "Debt-to-GDP ratios are already eye-wateringly high, and this week's stunning capitulation in May industrial production data from Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands has raised fears that the so-called eurozone recovery has become stuck in quicksand, and without growth to erode the debt levels, the money that has flowed into Europe could well come flooding back out."
  • (4) Inequality meets unrealistic promises There are few places where the political landscape is turning to quicksand as quickly as McDowell, the poorest county in West Virginia.
  • (5) As the once proud defender of the people against the excesses of capitalism sank into the quicksand, financial storm clouds swiftly gathered overhead.
  • (6) It was like opening the book of Necronomicon or falling into quicksand."
  • (7) The FRC revealed that it had been monitoring Quindell since March 2014, a month before a US fund accused the company of being a “country club based on quicksand”.
  • (8) There has been a huge amount of discussion about whether the business model was valid and whether there was value in the business and this should put that to bed.” Quindell was thrown into turmoil almost a year ago when Gotham City Research, a US short-seller, published a report questioning the company’s revenues and profits, saying its business was “built on quicksand”.
  • (9) If we are homeowners, we worry that the home we own outright has a monetary value that is as solid as quicksand and that the future we thought was secure will turn out to have been a pipedream.
  • (10) So while the past week's figures suggest that the foundations for an eventual recovery may be starting to be laid, we are not out of the quicksand yet, let alone out of the woods."
  • (11) Government attempts to encourage or enact new rules in the wake of the Leveson inquiry have run into the same quicksands of definition, because they require the law to decide who or what is something called a " relevant publisher ".
  • (12) Looking through the self-interested anecdotes various protagonists are feeding to journalists in order to deepen this current crisis in order to force a resolution, understanding that in a leadership crisis everybody lies and everything is quicksand – the simple facts are Abbott’s leadership is on death watch because he has lost, comprehensively, in the court of public opinion.
  • (13) Many listeners of The Archers would argue that Helen is not ill, but drowning in toxic environmental quicksand.
  • (14) But when she chooses to turn it on, she has immense personal magnetism, which has enabled her to forge close and lasting relationships with designers, business moguls and other models – relationships that have done much to shield her from the quicksand into which many models' careers disappear.
  • (15) When Canada looks at Donald Trump, all we can see is Rob Ford | Matthew Hays Read more But for the rest of us, the last nine years have felt more like a standstill, a collective gang of non-Conservatives stuck in quicksand.
  • (16) The sensation is one of, having been sure of my path, stepping into quicksand and being slowly pulled under,” Oliver recalls.
  • (17) And despite the slight ease in activity contraction, economists caution that Britain is "not out of the quicksand yet".
  • (18) Why did the party allow itself to become stuck in this quicksand?
  • (19) He followed it with Hunky Dory (1972), a mix of wordy, elaborate songwriting ( The Bewlay Brothers or Quicksand ), crunchy rockers ( Queen Bitch ) and infectious pop songs ( Kooks ).
  • (20) Kicking the can down the road is still mostly better than kicking it into the quicksands.

Sink


Definition:

  • (v. i.) To fall by, or as by, the force of gravity; to descend lower and lower; to decline gradually; to subside; as, a stone sinks in water; waves rise and sink; the sun sinks in the west.
  • (v. i.) To enter deeply; to fall or retire beneath or below the surface; to penetrate.
  • (v. i.) Hence, to enter so as to make an abiding impression; to enter completely.
  • (v. i.) To be overwhelmed or depressed; to fall slowly, as so the ground, from weakness or from an overburden; to fail in strength; to decline; to decay; to decrease.
  • (v. i.) To decrease in volume, as a river; to subside; to become diminished in volume or in apparent height.
  • (v. t.) To cause to sink; to put under water; to immerse or submerge in a fluid; as, to sink a ship.
  • (v. t.) Figuratively: To cause to decline; to depress; to degrade; hence, to ruin irretrievably; to destroy, as by drowping; as, to sink one's reputation.
  • (v. t.) To make (a depression) by digging, delving, or cutting, etc.; as, to sink a pit or a well; to sink a die.
  • (v. t.) To bring low; to reduce in quantity; to waste.
  • (v. t.) To conseal and appropriate.
  • (v. t.) To keep out of sight; to suppress; to ignore.
  • (v. t.) To reduce or extinguish by payment; as, to sink the national debt.
  • (n.) A drain to carry off filthy water; a jakes.
  • (n.) A shallow box or vessel of wood, stone, iron, or other material, connected with a drain, and used for receiving filthy water, etc., as in a kitchen.
  • (n.) A hole or low place in land or rock, where waters sink and are lost; -- called also sink hole.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Arterial-type flows produced a pair of vortex sinks downstream of the branching port.
  • (2) The compromised ice sheet tilts and he sinks into the Arctic Sea on the back of his faltering white Icelandic pony.
  • (3) These recent Times scoops about Obama's policies do not sink to the level of the Judy Miller debacle.
  • (4) Comparatively the virus strength sinks more slowly at 4 degrees C in the more mineralized river water (figure 2).
  • (5) Milk poured from higher (5-10cm above the cup) will sink beneath the surface.
  • (6) The chylomicrons in particular, become separated from the VLDL, the sinking pre-beta-lipoprotein or Lp (a) was identifiable and the type III hyperlipemia was easily diagnosed.
  • (7) It’s another squalid reminder of Conservative priorities, and how low they are prepared to sink in pursuit of them.
  • (8) Chinese drugs constitute a unique medicinal system that features the following three subsystems: subsystem of medicinal substances consisting of traditional theories such as "four properties and five tastes of drugs" and "the principal, adjuvant, auxiliary and conduct ingredients in a prescription' , etc; subsystem of pharmacological actions comprising the theory of "ascending, descending, floating and sinking", etc; Subsystem of human body's functions incorporating the theory of "drugs to act on the channels".
  • (9) In women, but not in men, there was a rise in the risk of falling from 45 years, peaking in the 55-59 year age group, and sinking to a nadir at ages 70-74.
  • (10) 81% of all sinks were contaminated with P. aeruginosa strains.
  • (11) During the early part of the experiments, when the sink condition was maintained, FAH was the most effective for hairless mouse skin, whereas Azone showed the highest effect in the rat skin.
  • (12) Opening of water taps generated aerosols containing P. aeruginosa sink organisms which contaminated hands during hand washing.
  • (13) Rats were classified into sinking and non-sinking groups, according to the appearance of sinking behavior over a 2 hr test.
  • (14) The laminar pattern of current sources and sinks coincident with this component was more complicated after bicuculline, reflecting the summation of current flows associated with disinhibited lamina 4 activity.
  • (15) But the reality of it began to sink in, and when I met with Kathy Kennedy [the Lucasfilm president and Star Wars executive producer], my gut said this is not something to reject.
  • (16) For here we see the depravity to which man can sink, the barbarity that unfolds when we begin to see our fellow human beings as somehow less than us, less worthy of dignity and life; we see how evil can, for a moment in time, triumph when good people do nothing."
  • (17) Waste eluates are collected and drained to the sink by a Teflon tray positioned between the columns and counting tubes, also held by the turntable.
  • (18) But it has been overwhelmed by the story of the sinking of the Sewol.
  • (19) Since biogenic particulate products, especially fecal pellets, are known to sink rapidly and intact to the ocean bottom, the transport of PCB's by such sinking particles could be an important mechanism which contributes to the penetration of PCB's into the deep sea.
  • (20) The receptor component had a current source in the outer segments (90% depth) and a sink in the ONL (70% depth).

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