Talk:sink in

RFV discussion: April–May 2019

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sink in

1. (idiomatic) To become clear in one's mind; to come to accept something.

RFV sense "to come to accept something". It could be just a misconstructed definition, but I'm listing it here in case I am missing something. Mihia (talk) 20:56, 22 April 2019 (UTC)

I think "to come to realise something/become a realisation to" might be what they were aiming for (?) Leasnam (talk) 02:40, 23 April 2019 (UTC)

Two distinct definitions are presented as if one definition. The first is the only way I know this phrasal verb. In that definition, a person is not the subject of the verb. It is the object of understanding/realization that is the subject:

That he was not ever going to get promoted finally sank in.

The second definition should fit something like:

*John sank in that he was not going to get promoted.

The latter makes no sense to me. DCDuring (talk) 03:02, 23 April 2019 (UTC)

You can make it make sense by adjusting the definition likewise to: “To become accepted in one's mind”. However, I too don’t believe the idiom means that. If the subject happens to be some tragic event (“The loss of his wife had not really sunk in at that point”), the realization of its harsh reality needs settling in order to become accepted, so it may sometimes appear to have that sense, leading to this misunderstanding.  --Lambiam 09:59, 23 April 2019 (UTC)

RFV-failed Kiwima (talk) 21:15, 24 May 2019 (UTC)