WATER DOWN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does water down mean? 

• WATER DOWN (verb)
  The verb WATER DOWN has 2 senses:

1. make less strong or intense

2. thin by adding water to

  Familiarity information: WATER DOWN used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WATER DOWN (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make less strong or intense

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

water down the mixture

Hypernyms (to "water down" is one way to...):

cut; dilute; reduce; thin; thin out (lessen the strength or flavor of a solution or mixture)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Thin by adding water to

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

They watered down the moonshine

Hypernyms (to "water down" is one way to...):

adulterate; debase; dilute; load; stretch (corrupt, debase, or make impure by adding a foreign or inferior substance; often by replacing valuable ingredients with inferior ones)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

Slow-motion collisions of tectonic plates under the ocean drag about three times more water down into the deep Earth than previously estimated, according to a first-of-its-kind seismic study that spans the Mariana Trench, a crescent-shaped trench in the Western Pacific that measures 1,500 miles long and is the deepest ocean trench in the world.

(Seismic study reveals huge amount of water dragged into Earth’s interior, National Science Foundation)