To dilute something means to make it weaker or less concentrated by adding water or another liquid. When you dilute orange juice concentrate, you add water to turn the thick, super-sweet syrup into drinkable juice. When you dilute paint, you add water or thinner so it spreads more easily and looks less intense on the wall.

Scientists dilute chemicals in labs all the time, carefully mixing strong acids or other substances with water to make them safer to work with. A recipe might tell you to dilute vinegar with water before using it as a cleaning solution.

The word also describes weakening something non-liquid. A message gets diluted when it's repeated so many times with small changes that it loses its original meaning, like a game of telephone gone wrong. A company's values might become diluted when it grows too fast and forgets what made it special in the first place.

The opposite of diluting is concentrating: making something stronger by removing liquid or adding more of the active ingredient. Think of it this way: when you dilute something, you're spreading the same amount of power or flavor across a larger volume, so each drop or bit contains less punch than before.