quench
Americanverb (used with object)
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quenches,
present (3rd person singular)
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quenched,
past participle, past
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quenching
present participle
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to slake, satisfy, or allay (thirst, desires, passion, etc.).
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to put out or extinguish (fire, flames, etc.).
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to cool suddenly by plunging into a liquid, as in tempering steel by immersion in water.
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to subdue or destroy; overcome; quell.
to quench an uprising.
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Electronics. to terminate (the flow of electrons in a vacuum tube) by application of a voltage.
verb
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to satisfy (one's thirst, desires, etc); slake
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to put out (a fire, flame, etc); extinguish
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to put down or quell; suppress
to quench a rebellion
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to cool (hot metal) by plunging it into cold water
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physics to reduce the degree of (luminescence or phosphorescence) in (excited molecules or a material) by adding a suitable substance
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electronics
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to suppress (sparking) when the current is cut off in an inductive circuit
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to suppress (an oscillation or discharge) in a component or device
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Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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quenchablenessnoun
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quenchernoun
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quenchableadjective
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quenchlessadjective
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unquenchableadjective
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unquenchedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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quenchsimple
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quenchessimple
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have quenchedperfect
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has quenchedperfect
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am quenchingprogressive
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are quenchingprogressive
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is quenchingprogressive
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have been quenchingperfect progressive
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has been quenchingperfect progressive
Past
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quenchedsimple
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had quenchedperfect
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was quenchingprogressive
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were quenchingprogressive
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had been quenchingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of quench
1150–1200; Middle English quenchen, earlier cwenken; compare Old English -cwencan in ācwencan to quench ( cf. a- 3)
Explanation
Quench means to put out, put an end to, or satisfy. If you're stranded in the middle of the desert with nothing to drink, you're probably dreaming of a nice big glass of ice water to quench your thirst. Quench originally meant “extinguish fires.” That meaning still works today, but we've expanded it to also apply to quenching the fiery thirst of a summer marathon runner or quenching the hot flames of passion. If you want to get deep about the word quench, consider what Voltaire said: “Superstition sets the whole world in flames; philosophy quenches them.”
Vocabulary lists containing quench
Where the Red Fern Grows
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"There Will Come Soft Rains" by Ray Bradbury (1950)
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40 SAT words Beginning with "Q"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
No, this project, which comes with an estimated price tag of $5 billion to $20 billion a year, wouldn’t quench specific heat waves or fires.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
I too had done horrible things to quench my self-loathing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 23, 2026
Consumer tastes have changed dramatically since Coke’s heyday, and Vita Coco has responded with a product mix that should quench investors’ thirst for growth and reasonable value.
From Barron's ● Nov. 13, 2025
On the other hand, they wrote, allowing potentially defective drugs to be widely used is akin to "drinking poison to quench thirst".
From BBC ● Feb. 11, 2025
Yet for all that it would quench no thirst, being but illusion.
From "A Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula K. Le Guin
Berkeley Lab scientists have developed an approach to prevent quenches altogether, rather than simply trying to manage them after they occur.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 11, 2024
Listening to KGAY, he added, quenches “a desire for a sense of connection that was in person, that was live and public.”
From New York Times ● Feb. 7, 2024
There is, legitimately, no item on earth that quenches and refreshes like good ol' water — especially when you've eaten something especially heavy or you've accidentally eaten the equivalent of your body weight in candy.
From Salon ● Oct. 25, 2023
It’s home to fishers and boats, feeds rich farmlands, powers turbines and quenches local populations across its banks and delta.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 23, 2023
The magic chariot goes on with its blazing lights, and a bend in the road quenches the pleasant vision in darkness.
From Leaves in the Wind by A. G. (Alfred George) Gardiner
I sipped on this drink during a midday walk and it kept me cool, quenched and satisfied.
From Salon ● Jul. 27, 2025
"Everything seems to happen faster and more dramatically in the early universe, and that might include galaxies moving from a star-forming phase to dormant or quenched," said Looser.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 6, 2024
At this point near Gennadi village, its climate change-fueled fury was only quenched by the sea.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 5, 2023
“I just was taken by all the people who were thirsty in the comic book — without being quenched — mouth open, sweat pouring, very tired, very depleted. I abstracted that,” Roland says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 19, 2023
His countenance reminded one of a lamp quenched, waiting to be re-lit—and alas! it was not himself that could now kindle the lustre of animated expression: he was dependent on another for that office!
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
It manufactures neodymium magnets by pouring liquid alloy onto a rotating, cooled disk, then rapidly quenching and pulverizing it to freeze the delicate crystalline structure at a microscopic scale before it can grow.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026
The breakthrough relied on a process known as pressure quenching.
From Science Daily ● May 27, 2026
The primary solution to resolve this crisis would’ve been to pump a neutralizing agent into the problem tank, quenching it and making it no longer explosive.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 23, 2026
They are used to quenching their thirst with snow, but with little or no snowfall, they can easily get dehydrated.
From Barron's ● Feb. 10, 2026
Someone had the idea of quenching his thirst by eating snow.
From "Night" by Elie Wiesel
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
