What does "drench" mean?
A dose or draught of liquid medicine (especially one causing sleepiness) taken by a person; specifically, a (large) dose, or one forced or poured down the throat.
Drench
/dɹɛnt͡ʃ/ noun, verb
noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A dose or draught of liquid medicine (especially one causing sleepiness) taken by a person; specifically, a (large) dose, or one forced or poured down the throat.
- Grammar: drench is listed as noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: soak, apply liquid to soil, baden, base watering.
- Useful contrasts: rainproof, blots, mist.
- Usage evidence: After a while, dressing in the recommended long pants and long sleeved-shirt during a summer hike can really drench your clothes.
How to use "drench"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "drench" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "drench" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "drench" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "drench" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "drench" is acting as noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "soak" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "drench", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A dose or draught of liquid medicine (especially one causing sleepiness) taken by a person; specifically, a (large) dose, or one forced or poured down the throat. also, archaic, figuratively
"[T]hey need not carry ſuch an unvvorthy ſuſpicion over the Preachers of Gods vvord, as to tutor their unſoundneſſe vvith the Abcie of a Liturgy, or to diet their ignorance, and vvant of care, vvith the limited draught of a Mattin, and even ſong drench."
- 2 An act of making someone or something completely wet; a soak or soaking, a wetting.
"Whenever it was the thought first struck him / How Death, at unawares, might duck him / Deeper than the grave, and quench / The gin-shop's light in Hell's grim drench […]"
- 3 A dose or draught of liquid medicine administered to an animal.
"O my ſvveet Harry ſaies ſhe! hovv manie haſt thou kild to day? Giue my roane horſe a drench (ſayes hee) and aunſvveres ſome foureteene, an houre after: a trifle, a trifle."
- 4 An amount of water or some other liquid that will make someone or something completely wet.
Verb
- 1 To cause (someone) to drink; to provide (someone) with a drink. transitive
"Pork ſucceeds to Beef, Pies to Puddings: The Cloth is remov'd, Madam, drench'd vvith a Bumper, drops a Courtſey, and departs; […]"
- 2 cover with liquid; pour liquid onto wordnet
- 3 To cause (someone) to drink; to provide (someone) with a drink.; To administer a dose or draught of liquid medicine to (an animal), often by force. specifically, transitive
- 4 permeate or impregnate wordnet
- 5 To make (someone or something) completely wet by having water or some other liquid fall or thrown on them or it; to saturate, to soak; also (archaic), to make (someone or something) completely wet by immersing in water or some other liquid; to soak, to steep. transitive
"That our Garments being (as they were) drencht in the Sea, hold notwithſtanding their freſhneſſe and gloſſes, being rather new dy'de then ſtain'd with ſalte water."
Show 5 more definitions
- 6 force to drink wordnet
- 7 To drown (someone). obsolete, transitive
"VVhat flames (q[uo]d he) vvhen I thee preſent ſee, / In daunger rather to be drent, then brent?"
- 8 drench or submerge or be drenched or submerged wordnet
- 9 To overwhelm (someone); to drown, to engulf. figuratively, obsolete, transitive
- 10 To be drowned; also, to be immersed in water. intransitive, obsolete
"Alas, now drencheth my ſwete fo, / That with the ſpoyle of my hart did go, / And left me but (alas) why did he ſo?"
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
"After a while, dressing in the recommended long pants and long sleeved-shirt during a summer hike can really drench your clothes."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "drench"?
Common synonyms include: soak, apply liquid to soil, baden, base watering, bathe, bathing.
How do you use "drench" in a sentence?
After a while, dressing in the recommended long pants and long sleeved-shirt during a summer hike can really drench your clothes.
How do you pronounce "drench"?
Pronounced /dɹɛnt͡ʃ/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English drench, drenche (“beverage, drink; cup of drink, specifically a poisoned drink; medicinal potion, specifically an emetic (?)”) [and other forms], from Old English drenċ (“drink; draft, potion; dose (of medicine, poison, etc.)”), from Proto-West Germanic *dranki, from Proto-Germanic *drankiz (“drink; potion; dose”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrenǵ- (“to draw, pull; to gulp; to sip”). Doublet of drink (noun). Cognates * Gothic 𐌳𐍂𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌺 (draggk), 𐌳𐍂𐌰𐌲𐌺 (dragk, “beverage, drink”) * Old Dutch *dranc, (Middle Dutch dranc, modern Dutch drank (“beverage, drink”)) * Old High German tranc, tranch (Middle High German tranc, modern German Trank (“drink; potion”)) * Old Saxon dranc
Etymology 2
The verb is derived from Middle English drenchen, drench (“to drown; to flood, inundate; to consume (drink or food); to give (someone) a drink; to poison (someone) with a drink; to immerse, soak, drench; to descend, fall, sink; to penetrate, permeate; (figurative) to engulf, overwhelm”) [and other forms], from Old English drenċan (“to give (someone) a drink; to immerse, soak, drench”), from Proto-West Germanic *drankijan, from Proto-Germanic *drankijaną (“to cause (someone) to drink”), the causative of *drinkaną (“to drink”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrenǵ- (“to draw, pull; to gulp; to sip”). Doublet of drink (verb). The noun is derived from the verb (etymology 2 sense 1.2). Cognates * Old High German trenchen (modern German tränken (“to give a drink; to water”)) * Old Norse drekkja, drenkja (Swedish dränka) * Old Saxon dręnkian (Dutch drenke (“to get a drink”))