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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The 2024 European Parliament elections strengthened far-right blocs and pushed the centre-right toward diluting elements of the Green Deal, reframing climate rules as sovereignty or competitiveness threats and amplifying cost-of-living and farmer-protest narratives.—
Felicia Jackson,
Forbes.com,
3 Oct. 2025
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Cleaver's Fifth District, which encompasses much of Kansas City, will be split across three different districts, diluting Democratic voting strength by incorporating Republican-leaning rural areas.—
Adeola Adeosun,
MSNBC Newsweek,
28 Sep. 2025
Verb
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First steps in that process occurred last week, when the Chokai practiced loading dummy Tomahawk munitions into its vertical launch cells.—
Brad Lendon,
CNN Money,
1 Oct. 2025
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In two of them — July 17, 2005, and July 5, 2008 — the Red Sox actually scored a run before loading the bases … and before Mariano Rivera then escaped all that trouble.—
Jayson Stark,
New York Times,
1 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Little River Canyon National Preserve introduces visitors to a magnificent gorge that was created by the Little River cutting across the top of Lookout Mountain.—
Tara Massouleh McCay,
Southern Living,
4 Oct. 2025
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The trial was designed to appeal to cash-conscious customers, who’ve been cutting eating out from their budgets, hurting restaurants’ profits.—
Jordan Valinsky,
CNN Money,
4 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The group sees ample opportunity for partnership with some of the denim industry’s leading finishing innovators, who have worked to replace stone-washing techniques—which are polluting and water-guzzling—with lasers to achieve whiskering and distressing.—
Kate Nishimura,
Sourcing Journal,
30 Sep. 2025
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China’s is arguably the most important; whatever the world’s most-polluting country does will determine the planet’s climate trajectory.—
Ella Nilsen,
CNN Money,
24 Sep. 2025
Verb
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That thinning prospect pool means there are fewer forwards to pull from, too.—
The Athletic NHL,
New York Times,
3 Oct. 2025
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As with most health concerns in menopause, hormones play a role in why your hair may be thinning during this phase of life.—
Korin Miller,
Flow Space,
1 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Measles outbreaks are infecting more people this year than in any year since the early 1990s and have already killed three.—
Suhail Bhat,
USA Today,
2 Oct. 2025
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The researchers had shown in 2023 that parasitic scraps of DNA could spread within bacterial populations by hitching rides on the tails of infecting viruses.—
Elie Dolgin,
IEEE Spectrum,
25 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Krishna discovers that Kaliya is living beneath the surface of a local pond and poisoning its waters with his venom.—
Seamus Sullivan
September 29,
Literary Hub,
29 Sep. 2025
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Authorities said Boytsov is also accused of poisoning his wife, who is one of the deceased, with the alcohol.—
Charlotte Phillipp,
PEOPLE,
29 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Watering down.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/watering%20down. Accessed 9 Oct. 2025.
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