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Water down

Idiomatic Phrase
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

An idiom meaning to weaken, dilute, or reduce the strength, impact, or purity of something, often referring to arguments, flavors, or principles compromised by addition of inferior elements.

Detailed Definition
Water down means to weaken, dilute, soften, or reduce the force of something. In poetry, the idiom can apply to language, truth, emotion, protest, faith, wine, medicine, or political reform. The water image suggests loss of concentration: what was strong becomes paler and easier to swallow. A poet may use it critically when powerful experience is made bland for comfort or acceptability. It is useful for discussing censorship, compromise, euphemism, and the danger of turning vivid feeling into safe generality.
Example
Example in poetry:
A protest poem might accuse the newspaper of watering down the workers' anger; In a love poem, an apology watered down by excuses loses its force; The phrase means to make something weaker or less direct; A poet can use it for diluted truth.
Additional Notes
Water down means weaken, dilute, soften, or make less forceful. In poetry, it can apply to wine, medicine, language, protest, truth, or emotion. The image is useful because dilution may make something safer or make it ineffective. Students should ask whether softening is compromise, censorship, kindness, or loss of integrity. It pairs well with cups, ink, rain, rivers, speeches, and the difference between clarity and palatability.
Also Known As
dilute
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