as in diluting
to alter (something) for the worse with the addition of foreign or lower-grade substances
watered down the cocktails while jacking up their prices
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Recent Examples of watering down
Politically, this strategy of watering down her own initiatives to avoid alienating interest groups might have worked, if not for the fires.
—
Marc Novicoff, The Atlantic, 31 May 2026
The challenge is to keep the language simple without watering down the issue.
—Aisha Nyandoro, Forbes.com, 26 May 2026
Dress the salad right before serving to prevent the melon and cucumbers from watering down the vinaigrette.
—Kaitlyn Yarborough, Southern Living, 23 May 2026
But watering down safe Republican seats in a tough year for the incumbent party, could backfire, some have predicted.
—Alexandra Glorioso, Miami Herald, 27 Apr. 2026
Name, image and likeness money is pulling guys with borderline first-round grades back to school, which is watering down the top of each class.
—Nick Baumgardner, New York Times, 10 Apr. 2026
Trump blinked, pausing and watering down many of those tariffs in response to extreme market pressure.
—Matt Egan, CNN Money, 2 Apr. 2026
On Wednesday, The Times reported that Bass was directly involved in watering down the city’s after-action report on the fire, citing unnamed sources.
—David Zahniser, Los Angeles Times, 6 Feb. 2026
States that are already watering down or even eliminating vaccine requirements may align with the administration’s decision to neglect and hide the data, contributing to a growing gap between states on vaccine policy, further fragmenting and politicizing decisions that should be based on science.
—Jill Rosenthal, STAT, 14 Jan. 2026
Marc Novicoff, The Atlantic, 31 May 2026
The challenge is to keep the language simple without watering down the issue.
—Aisha Nyandoro, Forbes.com, 26 May 2026
Dress the salad right before serving to prevent the melon and cucumbers from watering down the vinaigrette.
—Kaitlyn Yarborough, Southern Living, 23 May 2026
But watering down safe Republican seats in a tough year for the incumbent party, could backfire, some have predicted.
—Alexandra Glorioso, Miami Herald, 27 Apr. 2026
Name, image and likeness money is pulling guys with borderline first-round grades back to school, which is watering down the top of each class.
—Nick Baumgardner, New York Times, 10 Apr. 2026
Trump blinked, pausing and watering down many of those tariffs in response to extreme market pressure.
—Matt Egan, CNN Money, 2 Apr. 2026
On Wednesday, The Times reported that Bass was directly involved in watering down the city’s after-action report on the fire, citing unnamed sources.
—David Zahniser, Los Angeles Times, 6 Feb. 2026
States that are already watering down or even eliminating vaccine requirements may align with the administration’s decision to neglect and hide the data, contributing to a growing gap between states on vaccine policy, further fragmenting and politicizing decisions that should be based on science.
—Jill Rosenthal, STAT, 14 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for watering down
Verb
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The potential pitfall of that is diluting Walker’s effectiveness at his primary position.—
Josh Kendall,
New York Times,
16 June 2026
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In his letter, Markey said using surplus plutonium to produce energy would be significantly more expensive than diluting and disposing of it — the method the federal government was previously using to deal with the waste.—
Ella Nilsen,
CNN Money,
2 June 2026
Verb
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To address this workflow conundrum, Maono has developed the P Series, which directly addresses this shift towards hybrid workflows and connectivity, where equipment needs to be streamlined for multi-device creation without loading on the technical complexity.—
Mark Sparrow,
Forbes.com,
14 June 2026
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Of course, Macy is not actually spending late nights at the distillery twisting knobs and loading the wash into fermenters.—
Jonah Flicker,
Robb Report,
14 June 2026
Verb
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This time, defender Willi Orban blocks the striker from cutting inside and shows him onto his left, but Gyokeres is still able to finish confidently on his weaker side at the near post, just seven seconds after his team-mate regained possession inside their own half.—
Thom Harris,
New York Times,
7 July 2025
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Airlines cutting revenue projections Sales and discounts on travel can indicate people have less discretionary income to spend on vacations or other experiences, Court said.—
Corina Vanek,
AZCentral.com,
7 July 2025
Verb
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Yet rivers remain at risk as polluting corporations and governmental activities violate their vitalizing flow.—
Andrea Gawrylewski,
Scientific American,
5 Dec. 2025
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This rollback would move the auto industry backwards, keeping polluting cars on our roads for years to come and threatening the health of millions of Americans, particularly children and the elderly.—
Hugh Cameron,
MSNBC Newsweek,
4 Dec. 2025
Verb
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Do any pruning in spring or summer, and focus on removing dead or damaged branches and leaves, getting rid of crossing branches, and thinning out crowded areas to improve airflow.—
Karen Brewer Grossman,
Southern Living,
8 Dec. 2025
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One reason these films can have an impact even as their distribution power dwindles is docs’ quickly thinning line between activism and journalism.—
Steven Zeitchik,
HollywoodReporter,
7 Dec. 2025
Verb
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For example, the attackers could have gained access to user names and passwords of NASA employees through social engineering, methods such as phishing or infecting computers with viruses uploaded to USB drives and left where personnel could find them.—
Tereza Pultarova,
Space.com,
8 Dec. 2025
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That hacking campaign used fake emails impersonating Ukrainian officials that sought to fool users into infecting their own computers by clicking on malicious links.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
26 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Lewis was accused of poisoning two white female housemates, assaulted by a white mob in response to the charge, and acquitted in court, only to then be accused of stealing art supplies and prohibited from reënrolling.—
Zachary Fine,
New Yorker,
8 June 2026
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It was also used in a separate supply-chain attack poisoning dozens of Red Hat packages.—
Dan Goodin,
ArsTechnica,
8 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Watering down.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/watering%20down. Accessed 17 Jun. 2026.
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