SUNKEN

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does sunken mean? 

• SUNKEN (adjective)
  The adjective SUNKEN has 1 sense:

1. having a sunken area

  Familiarity information: SUNKEN used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SUNKEN (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Having a sunken area

Synonyms:

deep-set; recessed; sunken

Context example:

hunger gave their faces a sunken look

Similar:

hollow (not solid; having a space or gap or cavity)

 Context examples 

He is extremely tall and thin, his forehead domes out in a white curve, and his two eyes are deeply sunken in his head.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The cheeks were sunken, and there was a wearied, puckered expression on the brow.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

With crossed ankles and sunken head, he sat as though all his life had passed out of him, with the beads slipping slowly through his thin, yellow fingers.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The Lost 52 Project announced on Sunday that a sunken World War II-era submarine wreck they found last June was the remains of the U.S.S. Grayback.

(Lost 52 Project announces discovery of wrecked sub near Okinawa, Wikinews)

I observed, upon that closer opportunity of observation, that she was worn and haggard, and that her sunken eyes expressed privation and endurance.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Brissenden paused and ran an insolent eye over Martin's objective poverty, passing from the well-worn tie and the saw- edged collar to the shiny sleeves of the coat and on to the slight fray of one cuff, winding up and dwelling upon Martin's sunken cheeks.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I remember it now, and I know that it was the effluence of fine intellect, of true courage; it lit up her marked lineaments, her thin face, her sunken grey eye, like a reflection from the aspect of an angel.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

His thin, thought-worn features and sunken, haggard cheeks bespoke one who had indeed beaten down that inner foe whom every man must face, but had none the less suffered sorely in the contest.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But Brissenden, breathing painfully, had dropped off to sleep, his chin buried in a scarf and resting on his sunken chest, his body wrapped in the long overcoat and shaking to the vibration of the propellers.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Looking round, the wayfarers saw a gaunt, big-boned man, with sunken cheeks and a sallow face, who had come up behind them.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)