as in removing
to rid oneself of (a garment)
in those days a gentleman would douse his hat when going indoors
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
variants
also dowsing
1
as in extinguishing
to cause to cease burning
douse the campfire before leaving in the morning
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in wetting
to make wet
the heavy rains thoroughly doused the tourists strolling the town streets
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3
as in dipping
to sink or push (something) briefly into or as if into a liquid
douse the grapes in water to remove any grit
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of dousing
Kayla Hayempour, NBC news, 26 Dec. 2025
Workers separated the burning refuse and began dousing it with water while a 9-1-1 call was made.
—Tim Fang, CBS News, 15 Dec. 2025
In October last year, two masked men torched Lewis’ Continental Kitchen in Bondi after dousing it with accelerant.
—Peter Vercoe, Fortune, 14 Dec. 2025
The suspect then allegedly boarded the blue line train and approached MaGee from behind, dousing her with gasoline and chasing her to the back of the train car while attempting to light her on fire.
—Sean Neumann, PEOPLE, 24 Nov. 2025
Dubai's government shared a photograph of firefighting teams dousing smouldering wreckage.
—Shivam Patel, USA Today, 21 Nov. 2025
Boyd was convicted of dousing a man with gasoline and burning him to death in 1993 over a $200 cocaine debt.
—Zach Schonfeld, The Hill, 29 Oct. 2025
At Zhongshan High School in downtown Taipei, an instructor for the Forward Alliance NGO sets a steel pan with gasoline ablaze before asking a dozen volunteers to take turns dousing the flames with CO₂ extinguishers.
—Charlie Campbell, Time, 23 Oct. 2025
Any chance of the Los Angeles Dodgers dousing each other with champagne on Wednesday flew away into the night with one mammoth, memorable swing.
—Fabian Ardaya, New York Times, 9 Oct. 2025
Verb
Read All About It Record rainfall is dousing California, forcing evacuations and rescues from floods.
—Cite this Entry
“Dousing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dousing. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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