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
Stop watering down your message to avoid offending anyone.
—
Jodie Cook, Forbes.com, 2 Sep. 2025
Jodie Cook, Forbes.com, 2 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for watering down
Verb
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Long-term vitality comes from widening the circle of decision-makers without diluting the core mission.—
Ken Polk,
Forbes.com,
9 Sep. 2025
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The true impact lies in the quiet slicing and dicing of communities, fracturing coalitions, diluting voices, and disenfranchising voters.—
Matt Klink,
Oc Register,
6 Sep. 2025
Verb
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In digital services, apply the same scrutiny to login friction, loading messages, or chatbot delays.—
Vibhas Ratanjee,
Forbes.com,
10 Sep. 2025
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Masters says that taking care of small chores, such as taking out the trash, loading the dishwasher, and emptying the fridge of your own food, shows respect for the host, their belongings, and their home.—
Claire Hoppe Norgaard,
Better Homes & Gardens,
9 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Spend some time worrying about that thing that’s actually quite meaningless, getting mad at that person cutting me off in traffic?—
Matthew Carey,
Deadline,
13 Sep. 2025
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Marinaccio is cutting it Marinaccio made his big-league debut with the Yankees in 2022 and between June and July of that did not allow a hit to 57 consecutive batters.—
Kevin Acee,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
13 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The technology ideally should be used for sectors that are difficult to decarbonize, such as cement production, aviation and agriculture, rather than to extend the life of polluting power plants or to prolong the use of oil and gas, Koberle said.—
Emma Burleigh,
Fortune,
5 Sep. 2025
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Stop polluting and give them stable, growing economies in which to be raised.—
Suwanna Gauntlett Upjohn,
Forbes.com,
29 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Water is rapidly replacing ice along the coastal plain of southeastern Alaska, where glaciers are thinning and retreating, with meltwater forming lakes off of their fronts, NASA says.—
Soo Kim,
MSNBC Newsweek,
8 Sep. 2025
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Pruning, thinning fruit, and watering during dry spells are key to good fruit production.—
Lauren Landers,
Better Homes & Gardens,
2 Sep. 2025
Verb
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That’s the best way to keep the flies from infecting the fruits.—
Nan Sterman,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
6 Sep. 2025
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These facilities agreed to and completed full cleaning and disinfection procedures to prevent the bacteria from growing and infecting others.—
Katia Hetter,
CNN Money,
4 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Sherrilyn McQueen, who has published more than 80 novels that reached the New York Times bestseller list under the name Sherrilyn Kenyon, first accused her ex-husband Lawrence Kenyon of poisoning her in a lawsuit in 2019, a year after her husband filed for divorce.—
Evan Mealins,
The Tennessean,
10 Sep. 2025
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Symptoms of salmonella poisoning Symptoms of salmonella infection usually start six hours to six days after swallowing the bacteria.—
Mary Walrath-Holdridge,
USA Today,
10 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Watering down.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/watering%20down. Accessed 16 Sep. 2025.
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