How to Use clank in a Sentence

clank

1 of 2 verb
  • The empty can clanked along the sidewalk.
  • The radiator hissed and clanked.
  • The keys clank on the glass table.
    — Davon Loeb, PEOPLE, 8 Nov. 2025
  • Three-pointers clanked off the rim.
    — Julia Poe, Chicago Tribune, 6 Jan. 2026
  • The heaters hissed and clanked, let off steam, fogged up the windows.
    — Literary Hub, 16 Dec. 2025
  • Racine Lutheran's first free throw clanked off the front rim.
    — jsonline.com, 19 Mar. 2020
  • The bells clank and the air crackles and the peaks look like cathedral spires.
    — Chiara Goia, National Geographic, 14 Dec. 2019
  • Fultz's form has been widely mocked as his shots clanked off the backboard.
    — Molly Blue, OregonLive.com, 25 Oct. 2017
  • First came an error by Walker, who had a ground ball clank off his glove.
    — Arizona Republic, The Arizona Republic, 23 June 2021
  • Something in one of the limbs clanked and hummed, and a keycard came spitting out.
    — Michael Calore, Wired, 11 Feb. 2020
  • Goff hit him in the hands with a pass as the receiver leaned to the grass, and the ball clanked away.
    — Danny Emerman, The Mercury News, 29 Jan. 2024
  • Chains and trucks and big digger-like gadgets creak and groan, clanking bells tolling for the dead.
    — Josephine Livingstone, New Republic, 23 May 2017
  • One photo showed a group shot of the rapper and his friends clanking beer glasses.
    — Taylor Ardrey, USA Today, 24 Sep. 2025
  • With a chance to tie the score with a 3-pointer, her shot clanked off the rim as the buzzer sounded.
    — Dan Rios, Daily News, 8 Mar. 2026
  • Don’t forget to look out for the clanking bucket fountain, an icon of the city.
    — Petrina Darrah, Condé Nast Traveler, 17 Aug. 2023
  • Then the Bradley roared off, clanking and roaring, down some unknown road.
    — Carl Nolte, San Francisco Chronicle, 25 Mar. 2023
  • Kennard passed up the shot, instead clanking a mid-range look off the backboard.
    — Benjamin Royer, Oc Register, 9 Mar. 2026
  • Judge watched the ball clank off the front of the stands, just below two fans who reached over a railing and tried for a catch.
    — Ian Harrison, Chron, 28 Sep. 2022
  • On a rush down the left wing, his sharp-angle shot clanked off Ullmark’s pad and through the short side.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 30 Dec. 2019
  • He was forced into three saves and saw the ball clank off the underside of his crossbar in the first half.
    — Pat Brennan, The Enquirer, 13 Aug. 2021
  • The ball clanked off the backboard and rim, and Trey Kell pulled his jersey over his face.
    — Mark Zeigler, sandiegouniontribune.com, 16 Mar. 2018
  • The teddy bears rained down as soon as Shawn O'Donnell's shot clanked in off the post.
    — Charlie Hatch, Cincinnati.com, 7 Jan. 2018
  • Yet another gave him a pair of deer antlers that hunters clank together to attract prey.
    — Mary Sherry, WSJ, 5 Oct. 2017
  • Traffic starts to build, out-of-state cars multiply, and beach chairs clank and scrape along sidewalks and paths.
    — Maddie Mortell, BostonGlobe.com, 2 May 2018
  • The strike came two minutes after a Nashville shot clanked off the crossbar from the same spot.
    — Charlie Hatch, Cincinnati.com, 3 Mar. 2018
  • Yes, it Lutz didn’t clank his own attempt this wouldn’t even be a topic of discussion.
    — The Athletic Nfl Staff, New York Times, 15 Sep. 2025
  • If other shots clank like cowbells, though, the flash lacks the type of substance that fuels late-season runs.
    — San Diego Union-Tribune, 1 Nov. 2021
  • As parents file into their seats, the metal folding chairs clank against each other and rub against the maple wood floor.
    — al, 21 Dec. 2022
  • Messi’s free kick clanked off the crossbar and Suarez put in the rebound, but it was ruled offside.
    — Michelle Kaufman april 7, Miami Herald, 7 Apr. 2026
  • But he was trapped by defenders, forcing him to clank a 3-pointer off the side of the backboard.
    — William Guillory, NOLA.com, 16 Mar. 2018

clank

2 of 2 noun
  • The same shots that went down in their good times were going clank, clunk, chunk now.
    — Dave Hyde, sun-sentinel.com, 27 May 2021
  • Here's to hoping for many more sonorous clanks in the future.
    — Perri Ormont Blumberg, Southern Living, 22 July 2019
  • Chun, looking for a hat trick, had an attempt clank off the right post.
    — Kyle Stackpole, baltimoresun.com, 3 Nov. 2017
  • There are hypnotic mine lamps, the clank of dead souls, the rut of work that doesn’t pay.
    — Robert Sullivan, Vogue, 19 Apr. 2019
  • Houston, the clank-meter was out for both teams on the perimeter to start.
    — Scott Springer, The Enquirer, 2 Feb. 2023
  • Sean Kuraly rang the post, Boston’s third clank of the night.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 18 Oct. 2019
  • The only sound, aside from the squeak and clank of the suspension, is the backup alert.
    — Robert Duffer, chicagotribune.com, 24 Aug. 2017
  • The sound was pure, and customary, metal bat meeting ball with a hard clank, a grounder to first base.
    — Gabe Lacques, USA TODAY, 18 Mar. 2023
  • Even when Green found room to get an open look at the hoop, those attempts often fell with a clank on the rim.
    — Matt Goul, cleveland, 20 Jan. 2023
  • There is a clank after each pretend coin is dropped and when the child looks inside there is a silver dollar.
    — Kimberly Fornek, chicagotribune.com, 9 July 2018
  • What once was an offense dictated by feel and smarts has turned into a rote exercise of clank.
    — Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 27 Nov. 2025
  • Okogie collected it in the corner and heaved it up as time expired, only to have his shot clank off the iron.
    — Jace Frederick, Twin Cities, 11 Nov. 2019
  • In the big, anonymous hotel, the air-conditioning kicked on with a startling clank.
    — Literary Hub, 21 Oct. 2025
  • There is the sound of rustling, followed by clanks, and then a sustained whoosh of loud, mechanical hissing.
    — Bronwen Dickey, Popular Mechanics, 14 Mar. 2018
  • Choukair and Scarton each went 3 of 5 on field goal attempts, both missing one with a clank off the left post.
    — oregonlive.com, 6 Aug. 2019
  • The gym, which used to resonate with the clanks of athletes at weight machines and the thuds of runners on treadmills, felt abandoned, too.
    — Alia Wong, The Atlantic, 18 June 2019
  • If starting offense early in the shot clock is good, then draining the clock late into possessions must mean clanks are on the way.
    — Fred Katz, New York Times, 9 Jan. 2026
  • Beating drums, berserkers roaring, the howling of wolves, the deep guttural thrum of chanting voices and the clank of steel.
    — Erik Kain, Forbes, 25 Apr. 2022
  • For someone who’s set off by the tiniest clank of a spoon on a cereal bowl, the jostling drunks and traffic and hype is a special kind of torture.
    — SI.com, 19 Feb. 2018
  • And so the Brown grads drank, the clank clank of the gavel echoing over the din of chatter and 2000s pop punk.
    — Hau Chu, Washington Post, 7 Jan. 2023
  • To spend time with noise warriors is to become frustratingly attuned to every gurgle, squeal, clank, and creak.
    — Bianca Bosker, The Atlantic, 8 Oct. 2019
  • Having a water bottle clank around on the outside of your bag is annoying while on a hike in the middle of the woods, let alone on a bus or light rail.
    — Adrienne So, WIRED, 1 Nov. 2017
  • At this instant, the door to the Freuds’ building clanks and the slender, dark-haired girl steps out, stops dead, and stares at Günter.
    — Stephen O’Connor, Harper's Magazine, 27 Apr. 2020
  • The Trojans’ inside-out approach was turned upside-down when their outside shots led to one clank after another.
    — Ben Bolch, Los Angeles Times, 5 Mar. 2021
  • The tables were empty and the bar deserted, the only sign of life the clank and swish of dishes being washed in the back, through the swinging double doors.
    — Carly Tagen-Dye, PEOPLE, 24 Oct. 2025
  • The clank sound off the front and back of the rim became the soundtrack to one of the most disappointing playoff losses in franchise history.
    — Troy Renck, Denver Post, 1 May 2026
  • The clank of that beer can resounded with one fan’s realization that OSU’s reign has ended.
    — Nathan Baird, cleveland, 27 Nov. 2022
  • The clank of armor, the murmurs of courtiers, and the soft glow of candlelight transform the castle into a truly immersive time capsule.
    — Lee Sharrock, Forbes.com, 19 Aug. 2025
  • As the sun sank, neighbors began banging spoons on metal pots from inside their homes, the subtle but unmistakable clank of government protests.
    — Kate Linthicum, Los Angeles Times, 29 Mar. 2026
  • Here was a poet of the people for the people, without pretension or pomp, who wrote verse that captured everyday speech, both its fluency and its clank.
    — The New York Review of Books, 18 Apr. 2019

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'clank.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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