How to Use skink in a Sentence

skink

noun
  • But not all of the skinks with green innards are green on the outside.
    — Jason Daley, Smithsonian, 17 May 2018
  • The skinks kept their tongues concealed for as long as possible.
    — Shane Black, National Geographic, 8 June 2018
  • In northern parts of Australia, the skinks give birth to live young.
    — Harmeet Kaur, CNN, 11 Apr. 2020
  • One of my most irrational fears, besides skinks and jumping off of things, is lash curlers.
    — Devon Abelman, Allure, 10 July 2018
  • In one case, a female skink was basking with her family when a snake appeared near their crevice.
    — Hannah Thomasy, New York Times, 24 Oct. 2022
  • The researchers found the rear of the skink's tongue was nearly twice as brightly blue and ultraviolet as the tip.
    — Charles Choi, Discover Magazine, 8 June 2018
  • That’s the Western skink, which has dark brown and light beige stripes, one edged in black, on a body that wields that astonishing tail.
    — Los Angeles Times, 13 Mar. 2021
  • Native species,like the skinks and fence lizard that are from here, can be threatened by introductions of nonnatives.
    — Carol Motsinger, Cincinnati.com, 31 Aug. 2017
  • Several Maryland skinks have blue iridescent tails when young.
    — Ellen Nibali, baltimoresun.com, 3 July 2019
  • Arnhem Land Gorges skink is a member of the genus Bellatorias, like this lizard.
    — Anna Funk, Discover Magazine, 16 Nov. 2020
  • Eighteen reptiles, including other boas, a second skink and pythons, survived.
    — Amy McRary, USA TODAY, 13 May 2017
  • But shape isn't everything, as a team of researchers recently discovered while watching hundreds of skink lizards court and spark .
    — Veronique Greenwood, Discover Magazine, 29 Aug. 2011
  • These animals, such as the Western three-toed skink or Transvaal grass lizard, still have teeny arms or legs, but those are mostly useless.
    — Washington Post, 20 Dec. 2020
  • On another stretch of forest floor, a tiny mabuya skink darted after the red beam of Ratsimanadino laser pointer.
    — Chris Schalkx, Vogue, 30 Sep. 2025
  • Despite being built for life underground, in the end this slider skink was no match for scientists who had searched for a decade to confirm its existence.
    — New Atlas, 28 Nov. 2025
  • Surprisingly, the green-blooded skinks were not closely related.
    — Jason Daley, Smithsonian, 17 May 2018
  • These hunts have helped to save local populations of two threatened species—the greater bilby, a small, large-eared native marsupial, and the great desert skink.
    — Anthony Ham, Smithsonian Magazine, 17 Mar. 2021
  • The green blood of the skinks illustrates the perils of trying to justify the variety of blood pigments in nature as purely adaptive.
    — Quanta Magazine, 22 Apr. 2019
  • Or check out the Folsom City Zoo Sanctuary, where bears, miniature donkeys, macaques, a skink, birds and more live.
    — Kate Bradshaw, Mercury News, 30 Mar. 2026
  • In addition to the traditional hamsters and fish, teachers now are caring for things like chinchillas, rats, skinks, chicks, hissing cockroaches and, of course, snakes.
    — John Wisely, Detroit Free Press, 7 May 2020
  • Perrywinkle Perrywinkle, who turns 20 in December, is an apt name for this blue-tongue skink.
    — cincinnati.com, 3 Dec. 2019
  • Now, researchers have discovered a new blind skink species in the Kon Ka Kinh National Park of Vietnam.
    — Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 16 Sep. 2025
  • She’s rescued or inherited dozens of reptiles, including a five-foot western diamondback, a skink and a Gila monster.
    — azcentral, 15 Apr. 2021
  • Genetic evidence suggests that this trait evolved four separate times among these lizards, which led researchers to think that the biliverdin might help protect the skinks from malaria or other parasitic infections.
    — Quanta Magazine, 22 Apr. 2019
  • But five species of skink lizards native to New Guinea and the Soloman Islands have brilliant bright green liquid pumping through their circulatory system.
    — Corryn Wetzel, Smithsonian Magazine, 30 Oct. 2020
  • See a small fiddler crab scuttling along a log; a skink's dark and half-closed eye; a tiny green buffalo treehopper clinging, upside-down, to a leaf; a Brazilian verbena flower so small that dozens could fit on a quarter.
    — Star Tribune, 29 June 2021
  • Authorities followed a tip that led them to Price's apartment, where the animals, including a squirrel monkey, a skink, three box turtles and two red-foot tortoises, were discovered.
    — Lilly Price, USA TODAY, 6 June 2018
  • Genetic analysis confirmed the skink was a separate species but related to existing lizards in the Lerista genus found throughout northern and eastern Australia.
    — New Atlas, 28 Nov. 2025
  • Luckily, Australian skinks have evolved their own molecular armor against cobra venom—using the exact same sugar-blocking mechanism that cobras use to resist their own toxins.
    — Popular Science Team, Popular Science, 28 Aug. 2025
  • This elusive skink was first noticed during a 2012 fauna survey, which at the time caught the attention of researchers because of its unique two-toe configuration on its only two limbs.
    — New Atlas, 28 Nov. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'skink.' 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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