watering down

verb

present participle of water down
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

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of watering down But Reeves and Starmer faced criticism for some of their fiscal policies, such as increasing National Insurance — a kind of tax on employment — for businesses, and watering down welfare reforms to appease backbench lawmakers. — Chloe Taylor, CNBC, 21 July 2026 Asking for sportsbook revenue while simultaneously watering down the product and coddling rule-breakers with minor-league rehab is a terrible look. — Geoff Clark Outkick, FOXNews.com, 26 June 2026 These rules have already been subject to watering down proposals. — Neil Winton, Forbes.com, 20 June 2026 But the most basic reforms seem to require years of discussion and back-and-forth and watering down. — David Frum, The Atlantic, 17 June 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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for watering down
  1. diluting
  2. loading
  3. cutting
  4. polluting
  5. thinning
  6. infecting
  7. poisoning
Verb
  • Prosecutors charge that widespread noncitizen voting disenfranchises Americans by diluting their lawful votes.
    — Sonja Sharp, Los Angeles Times, 31 Oct. 2026
  • The filing shed more light on Meta's plan to create a new class of non-voting stock, Class C, in January to help finance investments and acquisitions without diluting CEO Mark Zuckerberg's voting control.
    — Alexa LoMonaco, CNBC, 24 Oct. 2026
Definition of diluting
Verb
  • Having patched the underlying bootloader vulnerability in 2022, Microsoft’s May 2023 patch batch included security updates to prevent attackers from loading older vulnerable boot managers.
    — Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 3 Nov. 2026
  • Barges that once carried 1,500 tons are loading only 800 to 900 tons, Scavinskyi said.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 3 Nov. 2026
Definition of loading
Verb
  • The plans were developed by the Department of Government Efficiency, a cost-cutting team initially overseen by billionaire Elon Musk, in response to a presidential order meant to rid the government of DEI programs.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 30 Oct. 2026
  • Following its 2015 merger, the company adopted an aggressive cost-cutting mandate that leadership reported hitting, quarter after quarter, ahead of schedule.
    — Amer Al Ahbabi, Forbes.com, 30 Oct. 2026
Definition of cutting
Verb
  • In recent years, the plastics industry has touted the promise of chemical recycling, a set of costly, often polluting technologies that break plastic into its molecular building blocks.
    — Lisa Song, ProPublica, 29 Oct. 2026
  • Any type of foreign material can harm a hydrothermal feature, either by clogging the water supply, polluting the water or blocking its runoff channel, according to the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory.
    — Sadie Chafe, FOXNews.com, 25 Oct. 2026
Definition of polluting
Verb
  • The gel exhibits strong shear thinning, meaning its viscosity decreases 100 times as the shear rate increases, which is the secret sauce to making rocket and satellite fuel easier to store and deliver to engines.
    — Maria Mocerino, Interesting Engineering, 2 Nov. 2026
  • The skill that once separated a script kiddie from a serious threat actor is thinning out.
    — Rohit Dhamankar, Forbes.com, 30 Oct. 2026
Definition of thinning
Verb
  • The disease is now even infecting people in remote villages in the Amazon, Freitas says, and has emerged in other countries too.
    — Dominique Mosbergen, Time, 27 Oct. 2026
  • Produced by Yara Goubran) When a mysterious epidemic begins infecting women in a remote fishing village, fear quickly turns the community against them.
    — Essie Assibu, Variety, 16 Oct. 2026
Definition of infecting
Verb
  • Her father, Steve Apa, told the New York Times that the cause was rhabdomyolysis, also known as rhabdo, a rare condition in which skeletal muscle breaks down and dies quickly, poisoning the body.
    — Jen Christensen, CNN Money, 4 Nov. 2026
  • Her father told The New York Times that she’d been stricken with rhabdomyolysis, a rare condition in which muscles can break down during exertion, poisoning the body.
    — Larry Neumeister, Chicago Tribune, 3 Nov. 2026
Definition of poisoning

Browse Nearby Words

watering cans
watering down
watering hole
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Cite this Entry

“Watering down.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/watering%20down. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

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