How to Use waterworks in a Sentence

waterworks

plural noun
  • Of course two water signs know how to turn on the waterworks.
    — Jennifer Zhan, Vulture, 2024-12-05
  • So dogs turn on the waterworks and their owners roll over.
    — Karen Hopkin, Scientific American, 2022-08-24
  • Cue the waterworks, this is just too precious for words!
    — Maggie Horton, Country Living, 2023-06-25
  • So, what was the twist that elicited all these waterworks?
    — Andy Swift, TVLine, 8 Oct. 2025
  • The real-life Kerr joined in the waterworks.
    — Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 8 Sep. 2025
  • When the waterworks begin, there’s no holding them back.
    — Erik Kain, Forbes, 2022-08-13
  • Adding to the waterworks, Kerr also wept as the credits rolled.
    — Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 1 Sep. 2025
  • What happens if the waterworks stop working?
    — David Frum, The Atlantic, 4 Mar. 2026
  • When you are emotionally aroused, the brain can send signals to your tear ducts to turn on the waterworks.
    — Scott Lafee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2022-09-06
  • The mayor said his city will respect the donor’s wishes and use the gift to improve waterworks projects.
    — Mari Yamaguchi, Los Angeles Times, 20 Feb. 2026
  • Cast member Leslie Jones joined him on stage and also brought the waterworks.
    — Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya, Billboard, 2018-03-11
  • So, on your next long-haul flight, be sure to stick on a reliable tear-jerker and embrace the waterworks.
    — Olivia Morelli, Condé Nast Traveler, 8 Mar. 2024
  • Donathan, of course, has an Aunt Patty; cue the waterworks.
    — Rasputin Todd, Cincinnati.com, 2018-05-09
  • Gates was then told he would be inducted to the team's Hall of Fame, and that's when the waterworks came.
    — Jordan Mendoza, USA TODAY, 2023-08-17
  • The waterworks came when Devin felt guilt for taking Nick across the world from his family.
    — Kelly Wynne, Peoplemag, 2023-11-13
  • The city decided to use eminent domain to seize the waterworks, and the two parties went to court.
    — Robin Kaiser-Schatzlein, The New Republic, 2022-04-01
  • As the waterworks continued, a trio of teenage boys approached us with bottles of water, concern etched across their faces.
    — Ashlea Halpern, Condé Nast Traveler, 26 Mar. 2024
  • But the real waterworks came at the end of the number when Shangela broke down in heaving sobs and her mom stepped out onto the dance floor to give her a hug.
    — Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 2022-10-18
  • The park was once home to the city's waterworks and was the endpoint of a pipeline that carried water from the Verde River.
    — azcentral, 2020-03-05
  • Still, the idea of watching on from the sidelines as his team-mates played in his beloved Champions League was enough to start the waterworks.
    — Elias Burke, The Athletic, 2024-08-18
  • No redemptive speechifying or cathartic waterworks here, just life carrying on with a slightly heavier tread.
    — Guy Lodge, Variety, 26 Jan. 2026
  • When wrap is finally called, Balfe releases the metaphorical pressure valve, letting the waterworks flow.
    — Amy Wilkinson, Entertainment Weekly, 10 Feb. 2026
  • Concern over the safety of Osaka’s waterworks systems grew after a massive sinkhole swallowed a truck and killed the driver last year.
    — Mari Yamaguchi, Los Angeles Times, 20 Feb. 2026
  • Elphaba and Glinda's epic story wraps up in the sequel to last year's Wicked — and get ready for the waterworks in the movie's namesake, friendship-defining musical number.
    — Ew Staff November 21, Entertainment Weekly, 21 Nov. 2025
  • The number culminated in some choreography complete with literal waterworks.
    — Nina Corcoran, Pitchfork, 8 Sep. 2025
  • The extensive waterworks also made way for sprawling sugarcane fields in the Everglades Agricultural Area, where farmers tended their crops with nutrient-rich fertilizers.
    — Amy Green, Miami Herald, 9 Jan. 2026
  • Chris, an All-American at Wichita State who reached Triple-A ball in the 1990s, is a hard-nosed, old-school baseball guy who couldn’t stop the waterworks from flowing that day.
    — Kyle Newman, Denver Post, 20 Dec. 2025
  • Osaka had 92 cases of water pipe leaks under city roads in the fiscal year ending March 2025, the city’s waterworks official Eiji Kotani told the Associated Press on Friday.
    — Mari Yamaguchi, Los Angeles Times, 20 Feb. 2026
  • The scanty snowpack accumulating this winter in the Colorado River headwaters is threatening Glen Canyon Dam’s hydropower production and complicating an already fraught balancing act for the Southwest’s waterworks.
    — Brandon Loomis, AZCentral.com, 28 Feb. 2026
  • The borough of Emmaus, which is home to about 12,000 people just outside Allentown, Pennsylvania, reported several wells over EPA limits – most notably at its waterworks building, where PFOS averaged 32 times over the limit.
    — Austin Fast, USA Today, 14 Aug. 2025

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

Last Updated: