water down

verb

watered down; watering down; waters down

transitive verb

: to reduce or temper the force or effectiveness of

watered down the plan

watered-down

ˈwȯ-tərd-ˈdau̇n 

ˈwä-

adjective

Synonyms of water down

• dilute
• load
• dirty
• cut
• pollute
• poison
• infect

Examples of water down in a Sentence

watered down the cocktails while jacking up their prices

Recent Examples on the Web

If Meta were to do a secondary offering of Class C shares down the line, then existing shareholders will see their financial interest in the company watered down, giving them a smaller claim to future earnings. — Kevin Stankiewicz, CNBC, 22 Oct. 2026

The bill, which had been watered down from its original version, passed with a vote of 38-9, with two abstentions. — Josephine Stratman, New York Daily News, 22 Oct. 2026

This, along with light wind speeds, means little mixing in the atmosphere to 'water down' the impact. — Ron Smiley, CBS News, 20 Oct. 2026

The biggest area of concern about this year’s team is that injuries could water down the squad’s talent base, which has lackluster depth. — Omar Kelly, Miami Herald, 9 Oct. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1811, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for water down

• chinatown
• tumbledown
• adown
• blowdown
• breakdown
• countdown
• crackdown
• crosstown
• downtown
• drawdown
• dropdown
• facedown