irrigate
verb
ir·ri·gate
ˈir-ə-ˌgāt 
irrigated; irrigating
1
2
: to refresh as if by watering
: to practice irrigation
A tensiometer (soil moisture probe), available at any garden center, helps take the guesswork out of irrigating.—
The Benicia (California) Herald
The Benicia (California) HeraldExamples of irrigate in a Sentence
The surgeon irrigated the wound.
if you get the chemical in your eye, irrigate the eye thoroughly with water
Recent Examples on the Web
If soils have been dry or inadequately irrigated, consider harvesting nearly ripe fruit before rainstorm events to avoid cracking.
—Kim Toscano, Southern Living, 18 Aug. 2025
As images reach us in fragments, sound weaves a continuity from off-screen to on-screen, carrying the emotion through the film and irrigating the streams of images, like water flowing.
—Cátia Rodrigues, Variety, 16 Aug. 2025
Thirsty data That Lake Mead’s worth of water that has disappeared from beneath the lower Colorado basin has gone largely to irrigating alfalfa and other food for cows, much of which is exported.
—Mark Gongloff, Mercury News, 13 Aug. 2025
That Lake Mead’s worth of water that has disappeared from beneath the lower Colorado basin has gone largely to irrigating alfalfa and other food for cows, much of which is exported.
—Mark Gongloff, Denver Post, 12 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for irrigate
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Kim Toscano, Southern Living, 18 Aug. 2025
As images reach us in fragments, sound weaves a continuity from off-screen to on-screen, carrying the emotion through the film and irrigating the streams of images, like water flowing.
—Cátia Rodrigues, Variety, 16 Aug. 2025
Thirsty data That Lake Mead’s worth of water that has disappeared from beneath the lower Colorado basin has gone largely to irrigating alfalfa and other food for cows, much of which is exported.
—Mark Gongloff, Mercury News, 13 Aug. 2025
That Lake Mead’s worth of water that has disappeared from beneath the lower Colorado basin has gone largely to irrigating alfalfa and other food for cows, much of which is exported.
—Mark Gongloff, Denver Post, 12 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for irrigate
Cite this Entry
“Irrigate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/irrigate. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
irrigate
verb
ir·ri·gate
ˈir-ə-ˌgāt
irrigated; irrigating
1
: to supply with water by artificial means
irrigate a field
irrigate crops
2
: to flush with a liquid
irrigate a wound
Medical Definition
irrigate
transitive verb
ir·ri·gate
ˈir-ə-ˌgāt
irrigated; irrigating
: to flush (a body part) with a stream of liquid
irrigate the wound with saline to remove debris
the eye was irrigated for 10 minutes following chemical exposure
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