pour cold water on

present singular third person pours cold water on · participle present pouring cold water on · participle past poured cold water on · past poured cold water on

1. idiomaticSynonym of throw cold water on (“to belittle or dismiss”).

   Leaked documents from TfL poured cold water over the prospect of driverless trains. They concluded there was no financial case because because of the very high up-front infrastructure costs.

   2020 November 4, Philip Haigh, “Cracks and divisions over funding for public transport”, in Rail, pages 54–55

   1 more example

   However, a national security council official poured cold water on the suggestion there would be US “boots on the ground” in Haiti, telling the Washington-based agency: “The United States is not sending US troops to Haiti to support the Haitian national police’s security operations.”

   2024 March 5, Tom Phillips, Etienne Côté-Paluck, “US says no troops to Haiti as country reels from explosion of gang violence”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

   Synonyms: throw cold water on, throw cold water on