Lavatory vs. Sink — What's the Difference?
By Maham Liaqat & Fiza Rafique — Updated on March 14, 2024
A lavatory is a room or compartment with facilities for washing; a sink is a basin with running water for washing hands or dishes.
Difference Between Lavatory and Sink
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
Lavatories often refer to bathrooms or washrooms, spaces designated for personal hygiene that include toilets and sometimes showers. In contrast, a sink is a fixed basin with taps supplying water and is typically found within lavatories, kitchens, or utility rooms for specific tasks like handwashing or dish cleaning.
While lavatories are equipped with various fixtures for hygiene, including toilets and sinks, a sink focuses solely on providing a space for washing, equipped with a drain and water supply. On the other hand, the term "lavatory" encompasses a broader range of hygiene activities, not limited to just washing.
In terms of usage, lavatories serve a comprehensive hygiene purpose, including areas for showering, bathing, and toiletry. Sinks, whereas, are specialized for tasks such as hand and face washing, and in kitchens, for washing food and dishes.
The design and location of lavatories reflect their multifunctional purpose, often situated for public or private use in residential, commercial, and institutional buildings. In contrast, sinks are designed based on their specific use-case scenarios, such as pedestal sinks in bathrooms for handwashing or large basins in kitchens for dishwashing.
Culturally and linguistically, the term "lavatory" can vary in meaning; in some contexts, it specifically refers to toilet facilities, while in others, it encompasses the entire washroom. Sinks, however, maintain a consistent definition across contexts as fixtures for washing, demonstrating less variation in use and understanding.
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Comparison Chart
Definition
A room or compartment for washing, including toilets
A basin with running water for washing hands, dishes, etc.
Components
May include toilets, sinks, showers
Consists of basin, faucet, and drain
Purpose
Broad hygiene activities, including toiletry
Specific tasks such as washing hands or dishes
Location
Found in residential, commercial, and public buildings
Located in bathrooms, kitchens, and utility rooms
Design
Varied to accommodate multiple hygiene functions
Designed for specific washing tasks
Compare with Definitions
Lavatory
A room providing washing and toilet facilities.
The airplane has a small lavatory at the back.
Sink
A basin with taps for washing, typically fixed in position.
She filled the sink with soapy water to wash the dishes.
Lavatory
Sometimes refers to a compartment in a vehicle equipped with a toilet.
The train's lavatory was surprisingly clean.
Sink
Often made from materials like stainless steel, ceramic, or porcelain.
The new porcelain sink added a touch of elegance to the bathroom.
Lavatory
In British English, often synonymous with toilet.
He excused himself to visit the lavatory.
Sink
Used for handwashing in bathrooms.
He washed his hands in the sink before dinner.
Lavatory
Can include facilities for bathing.
The hotel lavatory was equipped with a bathtub and a sink.
Sink
In kitchens, used for food preparation and dishwashing.
The kitchen sink was full of vegetables ready to be washed.
Lavatory
A term used in public buildings and transportation.
The museum's lavatories are located on the ground floor.
Sink
Can be designed for specific uses, like in laundry rooms.
The mudroom has a large sink for soaking stained clothing.
Lavatory
A room, building, or cubicle containing a toilet or toilets
He locked himself in the downstairs lavatory
Public lavatories
Sink
A sink – also known by other names including sinker, washbowl, hand basin, wash basin, and simply basin – is a bowl-shaped plumbing fixture used for washing hands, dishwashing, and other purposes. Sinks have taps (faucets) that supply hot and cold water and may include a spray feature to be used for faster rinsing.
Lavatory
A room equipped with washing and often toilet facilities; a bathroom.
Sink
Go down below the surface of something, especially of a liquid; become submerged
He saw the coffin sink below the surface of the waves
Lavatory
A washbowl or basin, especially one permanently installed with running water.
Sink
Descend from a higher to a lower position; drop downwards
You can relax on the veranda as the sun sinks low
Lavatory
A flush toilet.
Sink
Gradually decrease or decline in value, amount, quality, or intensity
Their output sank to a third of the pre-war figure
Lavatory
A vessel or fixture for washing, particularly:
Sink
Insert beneath a surface
Rails fixed in place with screws sunk below the surface of the wood
Lavatory
A laver: a washbasin.
Sink
Rapidly consume (an alcoholic drink)
English players sinking a few post-match lagers
Lavatory
(archaic) A bathtub.
Sink
A fixed basin with a water supply and outflow pipe
A sink unit with cupboard and drawers under
I stood at the kitchen sink
Lavatory
(Christianity) A piscina: the basin used for washing communion vessels.
Sink
A pool or marsh in which a river's water disappears by evaporation or percolation.
Lavatory
(Christianity) A lavabo: the basin used for washing one's hands before handling the Eucharist.
Sink
Short for sinkhole
Lavatory
A baptismal font: the basin used for baptism, used figuratively for the washing away of sins.
Sink
A place of vice or corruption
A sink of unnatural vice, pride, and luxury
Lavatory
(construction, interior design) A plumbing fixture used for washing: a sink.
Their 'bathroom' included a toilet and a lavatory but no bath.
Sink
To go below the surface of water or another liquid
We watched the leaky inner tube slowly sink.
Lavatory
Handwashing as an act, particularly
Sink
To descend to the bottom of a body of water or other liquid
Found the wreck where it had sunk.
Lavatory
(Christianity) The lavabo: the ritual washing of hands before handling the eucharist.
Sink
To fall or drop to a lower level, especially to go down slowly or in stages
The water in the lake sank several feet during the long, dry summer.
Lavatory
(Christianity) The ritual washing of hands after using the piscina to clean the communion vessels.
Sink
To subside or settle gradually
Cracks developed as the building sank.
Lavatory
(obsolete) A liquid used in washing; a lotion; a wash; a rinse.
Sink
To appear to move downward, as the sun or moon in setting.
Lavatory
(dated) A washroom: a room used for washing the face and hands.
Sink
To slope downward; incline
The road sinks as it approaches the stream.
Lavatory
(euphemism) A room containing a toilet: a bathroom US or WC UK.
Americans don't know 'WC' and Brits mock 'bathroom' but everyone usually understands 'toilet' or 'lavatory'.
Sink
To fall or lower oneself slowly, as from weakness or fatigue
The exhausted runner sank to the ground.
Lavatory
A plumbing fixture for urination and defecation: a toilet.
Sink
To feel great disappointment or discouragement
Her heart sank within her.
Lavatory
(dated) A place to wash clothes: a laundry.
Sink
To pass into something; penetrate
The claws sank into the flesh of the prey.
Lavatory
(obsolete) A place where gold is panned.
Sink
To steep or soak
The wine has sunk into my shirt.
Lavatory
(obsolete) A paved room in a mortuary where corpses are kept under a shower of disinfecting fluid.
Sink
To pass into a specified condition
She sank into a deep sleep.
Lavatory
(dated) Washing, or cleansing by washing.
Sink
To deteriorate in quality or condition
The patient is sinking fast. The family sank into a state of disgrace.
Lavatory
Washing, or cleansing by washing.
Sink
To diminish, as in value
Gold prices are sinking.
Lavatory
A place for washing.
Sink
To become weaker, quieter, or less forceful
His voice sank to a whisper.
Lavatory
A basin or other vessel for washing in.
Sink
To make an impression; become felt or understood
The meaning finally sank in.
Lavatory
A wash or lotion for a diseased part.
Sink
To cause to descend beneath the surface or to the bottom of a liquid
Sink a ship.
Lavatory
A place where gold is obtained by washing.
Sink
To cause to penetrate deeply
He sank his sword into the dragon's belly.
Lavatory
A room containing one or more sinks for washing, as well as one or more toilet fixtures; also called bathroom, toilet, and sometimes commode. Commode and toilet may refer to a room with only a toilet fixture, but without a sink.
Sink
To force into the ground
Sink a piling.
Lavatory
A room equipped with toilet facilities
Sink
To dig or drill (a mine or well) in the earth.
Lavatory
A bathroom or lavatory sink that is permanently installed and connected to a water supply and drainpipe; where you wash your hands and face;
He ran some water in the basin and splashed it on his face
Sink
To cause to drop or lower
Sank the bucket into the well.
Lavatory
A toilet that is cleaned of waste by the flow of water through it
Sink
(Sports) To propel (a ball or shot) into a hole, basket, or pocket.
Sink
To cause to be engrossed
"Frank sank himself in another book" (Patricia Highsmith).
Sink
To make weaker, quieter, or less forceful
She sank her voice when the manager walked by.
Sink
To reduce in quantity or worth
The bad news will sink markets around the world.
Sink
To debase the nature of; degrade
The scandal has sunk him in the eyes of many.
Sink
To bring to a low or ruined state; defeat or destroy
Loss of advertising sank the newspaper.
Sink
To suppress or hide
He sank his arrogance and apologized.
Sink
(Informal) To defeat, as in a game.
Sink
To invest or spend, often without getting a return or adequate value
I've sunk a lot of money into that car.
Sink
To pay off (a debt).
Sink
A water basin fixed to a wall or floor and having a drainpipe and generally a piped supply of water.
Sink
A cesspool.
Sink
A sinkhole.
Sink
A natural or artificial means of absorbing or removing a substance or a form of energy from a system.
Sink
A place regarded as wicked and corrupt
That city is a sink of corruption.
Sink
To move or be moved into something.
Sink
(ergative) To descend or submerge (or to cause to do so) into a liquid or similar substance.
A stone sinks in water.
The sun gradually sank in the west.
Sink
(transitive) To (directly or indirectly) cause a vessel to sink, generally by making it no longer watertight.
An iceberg sank the Titanic.
British battleships sank the Bismarck.
Sink
(transitive) To push (something) into something.
The joint will hold tighter if you sink a wood screw through both boards.
The dog sank its teeth into the delivery man's leg.
Sink
(transitive) To make by digging or delving.
To sink a well in the ground
Sink
To pot; hit a ball into a pocket or hole.
Sink
To diminish or be diminished.
Sink
To experience apprehension, disappointment, dread, or momentary depression.
Sink
To cause to decline; to depress or degrade.
To sink one's reputation
Sink
(intransitive) To demean or lower oneself; to do something below one's status, standards, or morals.
Sink
To conceal and appropriate.
Sink
To keep out of sight; to suppress; to ignore.
Sink
To drink (especially something alcoholic).
Sink
To pay absolutely.
I have sunk thousands of pounds into this project.
Sink
To reduce or extinguish by payment.
To sink the national debt
Sink
(intransitive) To be overwhelmed or depressed; to fail in strength.
Sink
To die.
Sink
(intransitive) To decrease in volume, as a river; to subside; to become diminished in volume or in apparent height.
Sink
A basin used for holding water for washing.
Sink
A drain for carrying off wastewater.
Sink
(geology) A sinkhole.
Sink
A depression in land where water collects, with no visible outlet.
Sink
A heat sink.
Sink
A place that absorbs resources or energy.
Sink
(ecology) A habitat that cannot support a population on its own but receives the excess of individuals from some other source.
Sink
(uncountable) Descending motion; descent.
An excessive sink rate at touchdown can cause the aircraft's landing gear to collapse.
Sink
(baseball) The motion of a sinker pitch.
Jones has a two-seamer with heavy sink.
Sink
An object or callback that captures events; an event sink.
Sink
(graph theory) A destination vertex in a transportation network.
Sink
An abode of degraded persons; a wretched place.
Sink
A depression in a stereotype plate.
Sink
(theater) A stage trapdoor for shifting scenery.
Sink
(mining) An excavation smaller than a shaft.
Sink
(game development) One or several systems that remove currency from the game's economy, thus controlling or preventing inflation.
Sink
To fall by, or as by, the force of gravity; to descend lower and lower; to decline gradually; to subside; as, a stone sinks in water; waves rise and sink; the sun sinks in the west.
I sink in deep mire.
Sink
To enter deeply; to fall or retire beneath or below the surface; to penetrate.
The stone sunk into his forehead.
Sink
Hence, to enter so as to make an abiding impression; to enter completely.
Let these sayings sink down into your ears.
Sink
To be overwhelmed or depressed; to fall slowly, as so the ground, from weakness or from an overburden; to fail in strength; to decline; to decay; to decrease.
I think our country sinks beneath the yoke.
He sunk down in his chariot.
Let not the fire sink or slacken.
Sink
To decrease in volume, as a river; to subside; to become diminished in volume or in apparent height.
The Alps and Pyreneans sink before him.
Sink
To cause to sink; to put under water; to immerse or submerge in a fluid; as, to sink a ship.
[The Athenians] fell upon the wings and sank a single ship.
Sink
Figuratively: To cause to decline; to depress; to degrade; hence, to ruin irretrievably; to destroy, as by drowping; as, to sink one's reputation.
I raise of sink, imprison or set free.
If I have a conscience, let it sink me.
Thy cruel and unnatural lust of powerHas sunk thy father more than all his years.
Sink
To make (a depression) by digging, delving, or cutting, etc.; as, to sink a pit or a well; to sink a die.
Sink
To bring low; to reduce in quantity; to waste.
You sunk the river repeated draughts.
Sink
To conseal and appropriate.
If sent with ready money to buy anything, and you happen to be out of pocket, sink the money, and take up the goods on account.
Sink
To keep out of sight; to suppress; to ignore.
A courtly willingness to sink obnoxious truths.
Sink
To reduce or extinguish by payment; as, to sink the national debt.
Sink
A drain to carry off filthy water; a jakes.
Sink
A shallow box or vessel of wood, stone, iron, or other material, connected with a drain, and used for receiving filthy water, etc., as in a kitchen.
Sink
A hole or low place in land or rock, where waters sink and are lost; - called also sink hole.
Sink
The lowest part of a natural hollow or closed basin whence the water of one or more streams escapes by evaporation; as, the sink of the Humboldt River.
Sink
Plumbing fixture consisting of a water basin fixed to a wall or floor and having a drainpipe
Sink
(technology) a process that acts to absorb or remove energy or a substance from a system;
The ocean is a sink for carbon dioxide
Sink
A depression in the ground communicating with a subterranean passage (especially in limestone) and formed by solution or by collapse of a cavern roof
Sink
A covered cistern; waste water and sewage flow into it
Sink
Fall or drop to a lower place or level;
He sank to his knees
Sink
Cause to sink;
The Japanese sank American ships in Pearl Harbor
Sink
Pass into a specified state or condition;
He sank into Nirvana
Sink
Go under,
The raft sank and its occupants drowned
Sink
Descend into or as if into some soft substance or place;
He sank into bed
She subsided into the chair
Sink
Appear to move downward;
The sun dipped below the horizon
The setting sun sank below the tree line
Sink
Fall heavily or suddenly; decline markedly;
The real estate market fell off
Sink
Fall or sink heavily;
He slumped onto the couch
My spirits sank
Sink
Embed deeply;
She sank her fingers into the soft sand
He buried his head in her lap
Common Curiosities
Do the terms have different meanings in different countries?
Yes, "lavatory" can specifically refer to a toilet in some regions, whereas "sink" consistently refers to a basin for washing.
Are there regulations specifying the inclusion of sinks in lavatories?
Building codes often require sinks in lavatories for public health and sanitation standards.
What is the main difference between a lavatory and a sink?
A lavatory is a room for hygiene, possibly including a sink, while a sink is specifically a basin for washing.
Are sinks only found in lavatories?
No, sinks can also be found in kitchens, laundry rooms, and other areas requiring a water source for washing.
How do cleaning requirements differ between a lavatory and a sink?
Lavatories require more comprehensive cleaning due to the variety of fixtures, whereas sinks primarily need regular sanitization for the basin and faucet.
How do cultural practices influence the use of lavatories and sinks?
Cultural practices can dictate the layout, components, and usage of lavatories and sinks, including preferences for bidets or washlets.
Can a lavatory exist without a sink?
Technically, yes, though most modern lavatories include a sink for handwashing.
Is a sink necessary in every lavatory?
While not strictly necessary, it's standard practice for lavatories to have sinks for hygiene purposes.
What innovations are being seen in sink and lavatory design?
Innovations include touchless faucets and water-saving technologies.
Can the design of a sink influence a lavatory’s layout?
Yes, the choice of sink can affect the overall design and functionality of a lavatory, especially in terms of space and usage.
How do water usage policies affect sinks and lavatories?
Policies may dictate water-efficient fixtures in both sinks and lavatories to conserve water.
Can environmental considerations impact the choice of sinks?
Yes, choices often include materials and designs that reduce water usage and environmental impact.
What role does technology play in the evolution of lavatories and sinks?
Technology introduces features like automatic sensors and water purification systems to enhance functionality and hygiene.
Is there a trend in lavatory and sink design?
Yes, trends in design reflect environmental sustainability, user convenience, and aesthetic appeal.
How do lavatories and sinks adapt to accessibility needs?
Both are designed with features like height adjustments and grab bars to meet accessibility standards.
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Maham Liaqat
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Fiza RafiqueFiza Rafique is a skilled content writer at AskDifference.com, where she meticulously refines and enhances written pieces. Drawing from her vast editorial expertise, Fiza ensures clarity, accuracy, and precision in every article. Passionate about language, she continually seeks to elevate the quality of content for readers worldwide.
