as in blow
a hard strike with a part of the body or an instrument
those soccer hooligans need a sound douse or two from a police officer's club
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as in to remove
to rid oneself of (a garment)
in those days a gentleman would douse his hat when going indoors
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
variants
also dowse
1
as in to extinguish
to cause to cease burning
douse the campfire before leaving in the morning
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2
as in to drown
to make wet
the heavy rains thoroughly doused the tourists strolling the town streets
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Examples of douse in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Ethan Baron, The Mercury News, 9 June 2024
Afterward, a Times investigation found the problem stretched back several decades and was possible in part because the inmate housing areas in the aging facility have no sprinklers to douse blazes or blaring smoke detectors to prompt jailers to respond.
—Keri Blakinger, Los Angeles Times, 2 May 2024
Stephanie McBee, ABC News, 27 Sep. 2024
Better equipment and smarter policies, along with airplanes that can douse flames from above, are all part of a nationwide campaign that has already paid off, inhabitants of Tizi Ouzou told the Thomson Reuters Foundation as the burning season came to a close in August.
—Madjid Serrah, The Christian Science Monitor, 23 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for douse 
Noun
The vast majority of wildfires are human-caused, most of them by accident, such as when people create sparks by mowing, drag connecter chains from RVs, or fail to douse campfires, according to Cal Fire.
—Ethan Baron, The Mercury News, 9 June 2024
Afterward, a Times investigation found the problem stretched back several decades and was possible in part because the inmate housing areas in the aging facility have no sprinklers to douse blazes or blaring smoke detectors to prompt jailers to respond.
—Keri Blakinger, Los Angeles Times, 2 May 2024
Verb
Blood stains, doused with cleaning supplies, were found on the bedroom carpet.
—Stephanie McBee, ABC News, 27 Sep. 2024
Better equipment and smarter policies, along with airplanes that can douse flames from above, are all part of a nationwide campaign that has already paid off, inhabitants of Tizi Ouzou told the Thomson Reuters Foundation as the burning season came to a close in August.
—Madjid Serrah, The Christian Science Monitor, 23 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for douse
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'douse.' 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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Cite this Entry
“Douse.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/douse. Accessed 21 Oct. 2024.
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