"throw cold water on" meaning in English

See throw cold water on in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

IPA: /θɹəʊ kəʊld ˈwɔːtə(ɹ) ɒn/ [Received-Pronunciation], /θɹəʊ kɔʊld ˈwɔːtə(ɹ) ɒn/ [Received-Pronunciation], /θɹoʊ koʊld ˈwɔtɚ ɑn/ [General-American], /θɹoʊ koʊld ˈwɔɾɚ ɑn/ [General-American] Audio: en-au-throw cold water on.ogg [Australia] Forms: throws cold water on [present, singular, third-person], throwing cold water on [participle, present], threw cold water on [past], thrown cold water on [participle, past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|throw<,,threw,thrown> cold water on}} 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. (transitive, idiomatic) (of an achievement, emotion, idea, suggestion, etc.) To belittle or dismiss; to cast doubt upon; to debunk. Tags: idiomatic, transitive Categories (topical): Water Synonyms: pour cold water on Related terms: rain on someone's parade Translations (to belittle or dismiss): 潑冷水 (Chinese Cantonese), 泼冷水 (put³ laang⁵ seoi²) (Chinese Cantonese), 潑冷水 (Chinese Mandarin), 泼冷水 (pōlěngshuǐ) (Chinese Mandarin), kaataa kylmää vettä niskaan (Finnish), tyrmätä (Finnish), tirar auga fría sobre (Galician), jogar um balde de água fria (Portuguese)

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for throw cold water on meaning in English (5.1kB)

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "throws cold water on",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "throwing cold water on",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "threw cold water on",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "thrown cold water on",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "throw<,,threw,thrown> cold water on"
      },
      "expansion": "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)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "throw"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Cantonese terms with redundant transliterations",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with redundant transliterations",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with topic categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Mandarin terms with non-redundant manual transliterations",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant manual transliterations",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Water",
          "orig": "en:Water",
          "parents": [
            "Liquids",
            "Matter",
            "Chemistry",
            "Nature",
            "Sciences",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "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",
          "text": "Oh! no; there would be a Mrs. Knightley to throw cold water on every thing.—Extremely disagreeable!",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1904, Arthur M. Winfield (Edward Stratemeyer), “Something about the Military Academy”, in The Rover Boys in Camp: or The Rivals of Pine Island (Famous Rover Boys' Series), New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, →OCLC, page 49",
          "text": "\"Now, Peleg, don't throw cold water on my enthusiasm,\" said Tom reproachfully.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008 January 15, Don Walker, “Forget the wind chill. How 'bout that windfall?: With the Packers' season in double overtime, Brown County businesses are seeing green”, in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Milwaukee, Wis.: Journal Sentinel, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2016-03-09",
          "text": "Sports economists tend to throw cold water on such studies, saying they often rely on unreliable or exaggerated data.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "(of an achievement, emotion, idea, suggestion, etc.) To belittle or dismiss; to cast doubt upon; to debunk."
      ],
      "id": "en-throw_cold_water_on-en-verb-7pJo7WgW",
      "links": [
        [
          "achievement",
          "achievement"
        ],
        [
          "emotion",
          "emotion"
        ],
        [
          "idea",
          "idea"
        ],
        [
          "suggestion",
          "suggestion"
        ],
        [
          "belittle",
          "belittle"
        ],
        [
          "dismiss",
          "dismiss"
        ],
        [
          "cast",
          "cast#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "doubt",
          "doubt#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "debunk",
          "debunk"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, idiomatic) (of an achievement, emotion, idea, suggestion, etc.) To belittle or dismiss; to cast doubt upon; to debunk."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "rain on someone's parade"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "pour cold water on"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "transitive"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "yue",
          "lang": "Chinese Cantonese",
          "sense": "to belittle or dismiss",
          "word": "潑冷水"
        },
        {
          "code": "yue",
          "lang": "Chinese Cantonese",
          "roman": "put³ laang⁵ seoi²",
          "sense": "to belittle or dismiss",
          "word": "泼冷水"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "to belittle or dismiss",
          "word": "潑冷水"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "pōlěngshuǐ",
          "sense": "to belittle or dismiss",
          "word": "泼冷水"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to belittle or dismiss",
          "word": "kaataa kylmää vettä niskaan"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to belittle or dismiss",
          "word": "tyrmätä"
        },
        {
          "code": "gl",
          "lang": "Galician",
          "sense": "to belittle or dismiss",
          "word": "tirar auga fría sobre"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "to belittle or dismiss",
          "word": "jogar um balde de água fria"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/θɹəʊ kəʊld ˈwɔːtə(ɹ) ɒn/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/θɹəʊ kɔʊld ˈwɔːtə(ɹ) ɒn/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/θɹoʊ koʊld ˈwɔtɚ ɑn/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/θɹoʊ koʊld ˈwɔɾɚ ɑn/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-throw cold water on.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/3c/En-au-throw_cold_water_on.ogg/En-au-throw_cold_water_on.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/En-au-throw_cold_water_on.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "throw cold water on"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "throws cold water on",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "throwing cold water on",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "threw cold water on",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "thrown cold water on",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "throw<,,threw,thrown> cold water on"
      },
      "expansion": "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)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "throw"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "rain on someone's parade"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Cantonese terms with redundant transliterations",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English transitive verbs",
        "English verbs",
        "Mandarin terms with non-redundant manual transliterations",
        "en:Water"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "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",
          "text": "Oh! no; there would be a Mrs. Knightley to throw cold water on every thing.—Extremely disagreeable!",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1904, Arthur M. Winfield (Edward Stratemeyer), “Something about the Military Academy”, in The Rover Boys in Camp: or The Rivals of Pine Island (Famous Rover Boys' Series), New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, →OCLC, page 49",
          "text": "\"Now, Peleg, don't throw cold water on my enthusiasm,\" said Tom reproachfully.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008 January 15, Don Walker, “Forget the wind chill. How 'bout that windfall?: With the Packers' season in double overtime, Brown County businesses are seeing green”, in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Milwaukee, Wis.: Journal Sentinel, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2016-03-09",
          "text": "Sports economists tend to throw cold water on such studies, saying they often rely on unreliable or exaggerated data.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "(of an achievement, emotion, idea, suggestion, etc.) To belittle or dismiss; to cast doubt upon; to debunk."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "achievement",
          "achievement"
        ],
        [
          "emotion",
          "emotion"
        ],
        [
          "idea",
          "idea"
        ],
        [
          "suggestion",
          "suggestion"
        ],
        [
          "belittle",
          "belittle"
        ],
        [
          "dismiss",
          "dismiss"
        ],
        [
          "cast",
          "cast#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "doubt",
          "doubt#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "debunk",
          "debunk"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, idiomatic) (of an achievement, emotion, idea, suggestion, etc.) To belittle or dismiss; to cast doubt upon; to debunk."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/θɹəʊ kəʊld ˈwɔːtə(ɹ) ɒn/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/θɹəʊ kɔʊld ˈwɔːtə(ɹ) ɒn/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/θɹoʊ koʊld ˈwɔtɚ ɑn/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/θɹoʊ koʊld ˈwɔɾɚ ɑn/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-throw cold water on.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/3c/En-au-throw_cold_water_on.ogg/En-au-throw_cold_water_on.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/En-au-throw_cold_water_on.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "pour cold water on"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "yue",
      "lang": "Chinese Cantonese",
      "sense": "to belittle or dismiss",
      "word": "潑冷水"
    },
    {
      "code": "yue",
      "lang": "Chinese Cantonese",
      "roman": "put³ laang⁵ seoi²",
      "sense": "to belittle or dismiss",
      "word": "泼冷水"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "to belittle or dismiss",
      "word": "潑冷水"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "pōlěngshuǐ",
      "sense": "to belittle or dismiss",
      "word": "泼冷水"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to belittle or dismiss",
      "word": "kaataa kylmää vettä niskaan"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to belittle or dismiss",
      "word": "tyrmätä"
    },
    {
      "code": "gl",
      "lang": "Galician",
      "sense": "to belittle or dismiss",
      "word": "tirar auga fría sobre"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "to belittle or dismiss",
      "word": "jogar um balde de água fria"
    }
  ],
  "word": "throw cold water on"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-26 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (93a6c53 and 21a9316). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.