How to Use douse in a Sentence

douse

1 of 2 verb
  • Check for and douse small fires.
    — Pat Harvey, CBS News, 9 Jan. 2026
  • And that just kind of drained him a lot, and doused this flame.
    — Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, 15 Oct. 2025
  • At least one cheese doused in whiskey and red apple juice.
    — Barry Neild, CNN Money, 13 Nov. 2025
  • Hage got doused with a Gatorade bath by his players.
    — Chris Hays, The Orlando Sentinel, 28 Feb. 2026
  • Go all in and douse your seedlings properly.
    — Sarah Lyon, Architectural Digest, 19 Mar. 2026
  • That's when she was doused with the acid, the grandmother claims.
    — Caitlin O'Kane, CBS News, 18 July 2023
  • Scoop the melty mixture into a soft roll, then douse it all with fresh herb sauce.
    — Jed Portman, Midwest Living, 15 May 2026
  • The entire thing is then doused with a madeira truffle demi glace.
    — Jared Kaufman, Twin Cities, 22 Oct. 2025
  • One tenant died on the scene as firefighters doused the flames.
    — Rebecca White, New York Daily News, 24 Jan. 2026
  • During the plane crash scene, she was doused with buckets of water.
    — Nick Romano, Entertainment Weekly, 29 Jan. 2026
  • Or douse it straight into the soups of thine enemies.
    — Alex Beggs, Bon Appetit Magazine, 7 Feb. 2026
  • And a couple of teens doused themselves with orange paint.
    — Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 25 June 2026
  • As for Mizzou’s own fire, it sure was doused by ice-cold shooting.
    — Kansas City Star, 8 Dec. 2025
  • If the cabin walls start to burn too quickly, douse with water to knock back the flames.
    — T. Edward Nickens, Field & Stream, 29 June 2023
  • Admire your creation, then douse it in berry-pink vinaigrette.
    — Ginger Crichton, Midwest Living, 8 Jan. 2026
  • Once the bread is cooled, the lot gets doused in a rum syrup infused with plenty of citrus.
    — Jesse Szewczyk, Bon Appetit Magazine, 27 Jan. 2026
  • When you're done, thoroughly douse the fire with water, stir and douse again.
    — Jalen Williams, Freep.com, 16 Sep. 2025
  • The crash sparked a fire, but crews were able to quickly douse it, McEvoy said.
    — Teri Figueroa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 July 2022
  • Ground crews were able to douse the two fires, which burned less than an acre of total property.
    — Frederick Dreier, Outside Online, 27 July 2022
  • The protesters set fire to one of the buses and turned back a fire truck that rushed to douse it.
    — Krishan Francis, ajc, 2 Apr. 2022
  • They have been attacked with pepper spray, burned with hot coffee, and doused in urine and spit.
    — Kristin J. Bender, The Mercury News, 6 Apr. 2024
  • He was taken to a park, taped to a bench, and doused with gasoline before the men set him on fire.
    — Ivana Hrynkiw | [email protected], al, 29 Mar. 2023
  • While the fastest way to cool them is by dousing with water, this can make quite a mess on your patio.
    — Rae Ford, Martha Stewart, 4 July 2026
  • Just make sure to let your bread cool completely before dousing it in the syrup.
    — Jesse Szewczyk, Bon Appetit Magazine, 27 Jan. 2026
  • At one point, the three younger kids douse a soccer ball in gasoline and start kicking it around the yard.
    — Glenn Garner, PEOPLE.com, 10 June 2022
  • The water should be on and the hose should be ready to instantly douse any wayward fires.
    — Rebekah L. Sanders, The Arizona Republic, 2 July 2022
  • Her dresses are often sequined and suits are doused in bright colors.
    — Isiah Magsino, Town & Country, 6 Apr. 2023
  • His knack for diplomacy helped douse the embers of thorny issues he was asked to help with.
    — Carol Cain, Freep.com, 13 Sep. 2025
  • To address the issue, dousing your kale with dressing is not enough.
    — Kendra Vaculin, Bon Appétit, 15 Jan. 2024
  • Of course, an olive oil cake doused in sweet raspberries offered the ideal sweet treat.
    — Eliseé Browchuk, Vogue, 6 Dec. 2023

douse

2 of 2 noun
  • The military has used them in foams to help douse fires that involve oil.
    — Natalie Neysa Alund, USA TODAY, 23 June 2023
  • Add a douse of gravy, and a smear of cranberry sauce on the inside of the top piece of toast.
    — Helen Rosner, The New Yorker, 28 Nov. 2024
  • The recipe here simplifies that idea with a generous douse of buttery, warm sauce.
    — Jeanmarie Brownson, chicagotribune.com, 18 Dec. 2020
  • And his sense of humor douses jest over images that probably shouldn’t be funny.
    — Andre Gee, Rolling Stone, 29 May 2025
  • Your brother-in-law can spice up his favorite dishes with a simple douse from this hot sauce assortment.
    — Karla Pope, Woman's Day, 4 May 2022
  • In between soccer drills and physical and mental health sessions, campers cool off with a douse of water.
    — Khalin Kapoor, BostonGlobe.com, 19 Aug. 2022
  • For a sweeter option, the sourdough waffle also tasted textbook with a douse of maple syrup.
    — Restaurant Critic, Houston Chronicle, 8 Apr. 2026
  • In interiors, a pop of red adds energy, but a douse of it on the walls transforms the room entirely.
    — Rachel Silva, Martha Stewart, 15 May 2026
  • Beside it, a smaller vessel named Lupo sat, completely coated in thick white foam firefighters use to douse fires.
    — Milena Malaver, Miami Herald, 6 June 2025
  • Those twin blazes posted once-in-lifetime challenges for firefighters who often had no water due to the extreme demand to douse so many flames at one time.
    — David K. Li, NBC News, 1 Feb. 2025
  • Meanwhile, botanical ingredients such as baobab seed extract and Kakadu plum douse the hair with moisture.
    — Jenny Berg, Vogue, 28 July 2024
  • The trail workers also maintain campsites, educate campers about fire safety and douse campfires that are left smoldering.
    — Zac Anderson, USA TODAY, 21 Feb. 2025
  • At one point, the prosecutors said Cohen watched another rioter douse police officers with a chemical spray.
    — Edmund H. Mahony, Hartford Courant, 8 July 2024
  • New parking garages are now required to have automatic sprinkler systems, but EV fires require at least twice as much water to douse, which means water supplies could be an issue.
    — Joann Muller, Axios, 8 Aug. 2024
  • The fire, named the Airport fire by South Metro, saw minimal growth overnight as crews worked to douse hotspots and protect the containment lines, the agency said in a Monday update.
    — Lauren Penington, Denver Post, 14 July 2025
  • Greece’s state broadcaster ERT aired footage showing a yellow aircraft releasing water to douse burning trees before appearing to crash and burst into flames.
    — Ellen Francis, Washington Post, 26 July 2023
  • With thick smoke from burning bales of hay hanging over parts of Belgian capital, security forces used water cannons to douse fires and keep a farmer from felling a tree on the steps of the European Parliament.
    — Raf Casert, Fortune Europe, 1 Feb. 2024
  • The commission’s members also called for prioritizing additional water storage capacity in neighborhoods, and systems with external sprinklers to douse homes, parks and schools.
    — Ian James, Los Angeles Times, 7 May 2025
  • The vast majority of wildfires are human-caused, most of them by accident, such as when people create sparks by mowing, drag connecter chains from RVs, or fail to douse campfires, according to Cal Fire.
    — Ethan Baron, The Mercury News, 9 June 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'douse.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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