Watergate

See also: watergate and water gate

English

Richard Nixon, resigning from the U.S. presidency due to the Watergate scandal. As of 2024, Nixon is the only U.S. President to resign from office.

The Watergate Complex in 2006.

Etymology

From the name of the Watergate Hotel; the complex itself was named after the "Water Gate" area where symphony orchestra concerts were staged on the Potomac River between 1935 and 1965.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈwɑtəɹˌɡeɪt/

Proper noun

Watergate

1. An American political scandal (beginning with a burglary in the Watergate Hotel in Washington, DC, in 1972) that eventually led to the resignation of US President Richard Nixon.

Derived terms

• -gate
• Watergate salad

Translations

scandal

• Arabic: ووتر غيت m (wuatar ghit)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 水門事件／水门事件 (Shuǐmén shìjiàn)

• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: Watergate, Watergate-skandaali
• French: Watergate m
• Georgian: უოტერგეიტი (uoṭergeiṭi), უოტერგეიტის სკანდალი (uoṭergeiṭis sḳandali)
• German: Watergate (de), Watergate-Affäre (de) f, Watergate-Skandal m
• Hindi: वॉटरगेट m (vŏṭargeṭ)
• Indonesian: Watergate
• Japanese: ウォーターゲート事件 (ウォーターゲートじけん, Wōtāgēto jiken), ウォーターゲート (Wōtāgēto)
• Korean: 워터게이트 사건 (woteogeiteu sageon)
• Malay: Watergate
• Portuguese: Watergate m
• Russian: Уотерге́йтский сканда́л m (Uotɛrgéjtskij skandál), Уотерге́йт (ru) m (Uotɛrgéjt), Уо́тергейт (ru) m (Uótɛrgejt)
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

Verb

Watergate (third-person singular simple present Watergates, present participle Watergating, simple past and past participle Watergated)

1. (transitive) To treat in a manner reminiscent of the Watergate scandal.
2. (intransitive, somewhat rare) To engage in activities associated with the Watergate scandal.

Alternative forms

• watergate

References

• “Watergate, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2021.