as in rinses
to pour liquid over or through in order to cleanse
if you get the chemical in your eye, irrigate the eye thoroughly with water
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Recent Examples of irrigates
Today, water from the massive lake, fed by the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, irrigates farms across the Central Valley and provides drinking water for Silicon Valley, including San Jose.
—
Paul Rogers, Mercury News, 23 Jan. 2026
If there’s a long delay before the next rain, run your irrigation once every two weeks or once a month, depending on the types of plants each zone irrigates.
—Nan Sterman, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 Dec. 2025
Water from the Central Valley Project irrigates roughly one-third of California agriculture, according to the Bureau of Reclamation.
—CBS News, 6 Dec. 2025
The river also irrigates more than 850,000 acres of farmland — the highest concentration of irrigated acres of any river basin in Colorado.
—Elise Schmelzer, Denver Post, 15 Oct. 2025
The canal irrigates more than 108 square miles, the district said.
—Idaho Statesman, 14 Oct. 2025
Whatever irrigates the imagination and allows the soul to exhale.
—James Parker, The Atlantic, 2 Sep. 2025
Paul Rogers, Mercury News, 23 Jan. 2026
If there’s a long delay before the next rain, run your irrigation once every two weeks or once a month, depending on the types of plants each zone irrigates.
—Nan Sterman, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 Dec. 2025
Water from the Central Valley Project irrigates roughly one-third of California agriculture, according to the Bureau of Reclamation.
—CBS News, 6 Dec. 2025
The river also irrigates more than 850,000 acres of farmland — the highest concentration of irrigated acres of any river basin in Colorado.
—Elise Schmelzer, Denver Post, 15 Oct. 2025
The canal irrigates more than 108 square miles, the district said.
—Idaho Statesman, 14 Oct. 2025
Whatever irrigates the imagination and allows the soul to exhale.
—James Parker, The Atlantic, 2 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for irrigates
Verb
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Plus, its self-cleaning function rinses the brushroll after each use and dumps the debris into the dirt tank.—
Sian Babish,
PEOPLE,
5 Apr. 2026
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Moisture is why LaMarita never rinses cauliflower before tucking it into the crisper.—
Randi Gollin,
Martha Stewart,
2 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Indeed, the only black-and-white to be found here is on David Zinn’s thought-provoking set, which washes the abodes of the younger characters in funereal black right down to Suzanna’s hotel bed.—
Greg Evans,
Deadline,
6 Apr. 2026
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Nationally, Martin said, the company washes about 1 million reusable items a month, and each item can be safely washed and reused somewhere around a thousand times.—
Jared Kaufman,
Twin Cities,
4 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The narrator of Repetition tears up her diary and flushes the pages down the toilet.—
Honor Jones,
The Atlantic,
3 Mar. 2026
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There are two options, with Daily mode which requires just wiping the cooking chamber with a semi-wet cloth, or Monthly mode which is a self cleaning function that flushes out the internal oil and water hoses.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
26 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Drinking fruit juice such as apple or orange, for example, floods the blood with fructose, a sugar found naturally in fruits and some vegetables.—
Sandee LaMotte,
CNN Money,
8 Apr. 2026
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Sunlight floods the interior of the Orion spacecraft a few minutes after its launch from Kennedy Space Center.—
David W. Brown,
New Yorker,
6 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Irrigates.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/irrigates. Accessed 11 Apr. 2026.
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