wet-blanket

verb

To disparage, belittle, or remove the satisfaction and joy from; to act as a wet blanket towards.

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Meanings

verbwet-blanket (third-person singular simple present wet-blankets, present participle wet-blanketing, simple past and past participle wet-blanketed)

present singular third person wet-blankets · participle present wet-blanketing · participle past wet-blanketed · past wet-blanketed · alternative wet blanket

  1. idiomatictransitiveTo disparage, belittle, or remove the satisfaction and joy from; to act as a wet blanket towards.

    A second significant enemy commando raid further wet-blanketed satisfaction over the reopening of Highway 4.

    1997, Wilfred P. Deac, Road to the Killing Fields: The Cambodian War of 1970-1975, →ISBN
    3 more examples

    A few other topics of general interest were introduced by Mr. Brooke and wet-blanketed by Mrs. Brooke, and conversation languished.

    1869, Louisa May Alcott, Little Women

    Possibly the world had not encouraged him so much as he hoped ; his tone is that of- a man whose enthusiasm had been wet-blanketed by adverse criticism.

    1893, William Lyon Phelps, The Beginnings of the English Romantic Movement

    But if a single syllable had been breathed to Papa he would have wet-blanketed the whole adventure: he was much too strict.

    1935, Ernst Lothar, Willa Muir, The Loom of Justice, page 95
Cite this entry
APA

wet-blanket. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wet-blanket

MLA

“wet-blanket.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wet-blanket. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “wet-blanket,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wet-blanket.

Source: wet-blanket on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.