Word.ws English Dictionary

throws cold water on

throws cold water on is the third-person singular simple present indicative of throw cold water on.

Meaning of throw cold water on

Verb

throw cold water on (third-person singular simple present throws cold water on, present participle throwing cold water on, simple past threw cold water on, past participle thrown cold water on)

  1. (idiomatic, transitive) (of an achievement, emotion, idea, suggestion, etc.) To belittle or dismiss; to cast doubt upon; to debunk.
    • Oh! no; there would be a Mrs. Knightley to throw cold water on every thing.—Extremely disagreeable!1815 December 23, [Jane Austen], chapter XVII, in Emma: A Novel. In Three Volumes, volume III, London: Printed for John Murray, published 1816, →OCLC, page 329

Questions about throws cold water on

What is throws cold water on the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Throws cold water on is the third-person singular simple present indicative of throw cold water on.

Words near throws cold water on in the dictionary

  1. throws away the key
  2. throws back
  3. throws BBs
  4. throws by
  5. throws caution to the wind
  6. throws cold water on
  7. throws down
  8. throws down the gauntlet
  9. throws dust in someone's eyes
  10. throws for a loop
  11. throws gas on the fire

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: throws cold water on (page history and authors); throw cold water on (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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