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Have no fear, the Word of the Day is here to slake your thirst for knowledge. The uses of slake are varied and fluid. Its most common meaning is synonymous with satisfy or quench—one can slake anything from curiosity to literal thirst. In chemistry, slake can mean "to cause a substance to heat and crumble by treatment with water," and is used specifically in the noun phrase slaked lime, which refers to a compound used in binding agents such as plaster and cement. The word has some obsolete meanings as well: in Shakespearean times, slake meant "to subside or abate" or "to lessen the force of." The most erudite word enthusiasts may also be aware of earlier meanings of slake, such as "to slacken one’s efforts" or "to cause to be relaxed or loose." These early meanings recall the word’s Old English ancestor sleac, which not only meant "slack" but is also slack’s source.
Examples of slake in a Sentence
Brandon Loomis, The Arizona Republic, 22 Sep. 2024
China’s impressive portfolio of developmental accomplishments has never been able to fully slake this longing of party leaders to win the acceptance and respect of the very countries that, because of their censoriousness, China simultaneously treats as adversaries.
—Orville Schell, Foreign Affairs, 6 Feb. 2022
While fans continue the seemingly interminable wait for the proper follow-up to 2008’s 4:13 Dream, The Cure will slake their thirst for new music in October with the release of live versions of two new songs.
—Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 30 Aug. 2024
Delegates leaving the Fiserv Forum at the end of a marathon session, aglow in their souls but parched in their throats, had to travel less than fifty yards before reaching the oasis of a booth, where thirsts could be slaked with a cooling draft of Lakefront Hazy Rabbit.
—Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 25 July 2024
See all Example Sentences for slake 
Dictionary Entries Near slake
Cite this Entry
“Slake.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slake. Accessed 23 Nov. 2024.
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