as in to dilute
to alter (something) for the worse with the addition of foreign or lower-grade substances
watered down the cocktails while jacking up their prices
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for water down
Verb
-
Wayne’s share could now be worth between $75 billion and $300 billion, thanks to the company’s current $3 trillion market cap (his shares would have likely been diluted thanks to new investors and public offering).—
Jim Edwards,
Fortune,
1 July 2025 -
For many businesses, staying competitive means achieving scale—not to dilute their unique value but to enhance it.—
Frank Sorrentino,
Forbes.com,
30 June 2025
Verb
-
Over the course of a year, the U.S. company imports thousands of pounds of these bearings, paying a tariff each time a batch of them is loaded off a container ship.—
Robert Goulder,
Forbes.com,
23 June 2025
-
That's why this bill is loaded up with priorities of GOP lawmakers and the Trump administration.—
Allison Pecorin,
ABC News,
23 June 2025
Verb
-
And for nights when you can't be bothered to dirty a million dishes just to get dinner on the table, there's an air fryer from Ninja.—
Sarah Felbin,
SELF,
23 May 2025
-
Crème Brûlée Steve Granitz Crème brûlée is like butter blonde, but dirtied up a bit for a browned, warm tint.—
Audrey Noble,
Vogue,
2 May 2025
Verb
-
The prospect of trying to cut open a stubborn 5-4-1 block in the Orlando heat could have become torturous quite quickly.—
Liam Tharme,
New York Times,
28 June 2025
-
At that point, roughly 70 million Social Security recipients would see their monthly benefits cut by about 20%.—
Alain Sherter,
CBS News,
27 June 2025
Verb
-
Beware of anyone telling you coal or gas is the answer to high energy bills, especially when their profit margins are tied to these polluting fossil fuels.—
Emily Scarr,
Baltimore Sun,
29 June 2025
-
Adam is showing how even language, the medium of the novel, can be polluted, corrupted, and transformed into a means of exploitation.—
Robert Rubsam,
The Atlantic,
21 June 2025
Verb
-
Still, no amount of artistic success could heal the rift that had poisoned the group.—
Ernesto Lechner,
Rolling Stone,
21 June 2025
-
The press, like the government and the judiciary, is part of a system that’s poisoned from within.—
Charles McNulty,
Los Angeles Times,
20 June 2025
Verb
-
About 20% of those infected will develop a fever, headache, body aches, joint pains, vomiting, diarrhea or rash.—
Michelle Mullins,
Chicago Tribune,
30 June 2025
-
By the end of that film, a batch of the infected had made it to France, implying that the virus would soon overtake the European continent and the rest of the world.—
Justin Chang,
New Yorker,
25 June 2025
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Cite this Entry
“Water down.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/water%20down. Accessed 6 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share