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tinkle

[ting-kuhl] / ˈtɪŋ kəl /


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

A heavy quiet hangs over Theofilou's farm in the absence of the bleats from the sheep and the tinkle of their bells.

From Barron's Mar. 30, 2026

This is not a concert in which the lead singer will occasionally tinkle the ivories for effect.

From Salon Jun. 24, 2025

But the darned toy has been blaring “Swan Lake” since “Ballerina” started and, to our annoyance, it’ll tinkle a few more times.

From Los Angeles Times Jun. 5, 2025

But what if those bells are right outside your bedroom window day and night, and rather than tinkle gently, clang loudly around the necks of 20 or 30 cows?

From BBC Nov. 2, 2023

Holding it tight against him to muffle the tinkle, he jumped to the stool, to the floor, and out the crack.

From "The Cricket in Times Square" by George Selden

Each instrument cut through the air with its own vibrations — splashes, thwacks, tinkles, knocks — for a cumulative effect that was captivating to experience live.

From New York Times Mar. 19, 2023

There’s only so many ways to make guitar tinkles.

From The Verge Sep. 15, 2021

Your eyes dart from package to package as the theme song from “The Little Mermaid” tinkles in the background.

From Los Angeles Times Aug. 7, 2021

“Though the sun’s eclipse seems final/surely he will rise again,” Ferry sings of his Jesus-figure, while an Elizabethan harpsichord tinkles below.

From The Guardian Aug. 20, 2017

It tinkles like bells, and I pull out my phone immediately, certain I’ve left the video playing in my pocket.

From "Five Feet Apart" by Rachael Lippincott

Scott Joplin’s ragtime piano tinkled softly in the cafe, the greenhouse, and in a 1930s house that has been turned into the garden’s Museum of Botany & the Arts.

From New York Times Apr. 25, 2023

She finished without incident in 1 minute, 14.30 seconds and stood alone for a few seconds as a cowbell tinkled and a television camera focused on her from a few feet away.

From Los Angeles Times Feb. 11, 2022

Wind chimes gently tinkled through the Grand Palais, which was transformed into a snowy mountain retreat with wooden cabins, white smoke spiraling from chimneys, elegant pine trees and mounds of faux snow.

From Washington Post Mar. 5, 2019

Michael Jackson, we just sat upstairs in this office and I tinkled on the piano and we just made up a song there.

From BBC Mar. 23, 2017

Her bracelet tinkled, calling communicants to the altar, but the only one in the temple had been excommunicated from the Faith because of his parentage and continued mopping.

From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole

Jefferson’s default prose is 18th-century elevator music, clear and tinkling.

From The Wall Street Journal Jun. 26, 2026

I wish it sounded like tinkling bells and xylophones.

From Salon Jun. 8, 2026

"I'd just sit there most evenings, tinkling on it," he says and that curiosity led him to train as a piano tuner.

From BBC Jan. 26, 2026

Step closer and you hear the contraption appearing to breathe, a tinkling sound like wind chimes emanating from the cooling mechanism that keeps its innards colder than outer space.

From Barron's Dec. 10, 2025

They tried to hide it by putting their hands over their mouths, but their laughter escaped through their fingers and fell tinkling onto the table.

From "The Reader" by Traci Chee




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