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pour oil on troubled waters

VERB
keep the peace
Synonyms


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:

US special envoy on climate change, John Kerry, went out of his way to pour oil on troubled waters when speaking at the IEA event.

From BBC ● Mar. 31, 2021

Sarah looked threatening, so Hugh hastened to "pour oil on troubled waters."

From The Chums of Scranton High Hugh Morgan's Uphill Fight by Donald Ferguson

When the teacher's cup was again filled with tea, she stirred it longer than usual, thinking, possibly, how she could pour oil on troubled waters.

From The Angel of the Gila: A Tale of Arizona by Cora Marsland

This of course roused the English officers, and we had to pour oil on troubled waters.

From My Life in Many States and in Foreign Lands Dictated in My Seventy-Fourth Year by George Francis Train

It is also her duty to pour oil on troubled waters and strew flowers along the connubial highway, so long as her kind offices are not resented.

From The Husbands of Edith by George Barr McCutcheon




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