adj
Meaning 1
Pale; bleak.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
bleach
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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blēch
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/bliːt͡ʃ/
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US: [blit͡ʃ]
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US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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UK: [bliːt͡ʃ]
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rhymes with -iːtʃ
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CMU ARPABET: B L IY1 CH Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
A chemical, such as sodium hypochlorite or hydrogen peroxide, or a preparation of such a chemical, used for disinfecting or whitening.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
A variety of bleach.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
An act of bleaching; exposure to the sun.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
A disease of the skin characterized by hypopigmentation and itching, believed in the 17th century to be a form of leprosy.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 6
To treat with bleach, especially so as to whiten (fabric, paper, etc.) or lighten (hair).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: whitewash
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 7
To be whitened or lightened (by the sun, for example).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 8
To lose color due to stress-induced expulsion of symbiotic unicellular algae.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
Topics: biology, natural-sciences
Examples
- Once coral bleaching begins, corals tend to continue to bleach even if the stressor is removed.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 9
To make meaningless; to divest of meaning; to make empty.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: figuratively, transitive
Examples
- semantically bleached words that have become illocutionary particles
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 10
the act of whitening something by bleaching it (exposing it to sunlight or using a chemical bleaching agent)
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: whitening, lightening
Narrower terms: etiolation
noun
Meaning 11
the whiteness that results from removing the color from something
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- a complete bleach usually requires several applications
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: white, whiteness
noun
Meaning 12
an agent that makes things white or colorless
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: bleaching agent, blanching agent, whitener
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: agent
Narrower terms: benzoyl peroxide, bleaching powder, chlorinated lime, chloride of lime, calcium hypochlorite, chlorine dioxide, chlorine water, Clorox, sodium hypochlorite
verb
Meaning 13
make whiter or lighter
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- bleach the laundry
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: whiten, white
Narrower terms: peroxide
verb
Meaning 14
remove color from
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- The sun bleached the red shirt
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: bleach out, decolor, decolour, decolorize, decolourize, decolorise, decolourise, discolorize, discolourise, discolorise
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: discolor
History
Etymology
From Middle English bleche (also bleke), from Old English blǣċ, blǣc, variants of blāc (“bright, shining, glittering”), from Proto-West Germanic *blaik, from Proto-Germanic *blaikaz (“pale, shining”). More at bleak.
From Middle English blechen, from Old English blǣċan (“to bleach, whiten”), from Proto-West Germanic *blaikijan, from Proto-Germanic *blaikijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *bhel- (“to shine”). Cognate with Dutch bleken (“to bleach”), German bleichen (“to bleach”), Danish blege, Swedish bleka (“to bleach”). Related to Old English blāc (“pale”) (English blake; compare also bleak).
From Middle English bleche, from Old English blǣċu, blǣċo (“paleness, pallor”), from Proto-Germanic *blaikį̄ (“paleness”). See Etymology 1 above.
From Middle English bleche, from Old English blǣċe (“irritation of the skin, leprosy; psoriasis”).
Across languages
Translations
125 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Afrikaans: bleikmiddel — chemical
- Arabic: مَادَّة تَبْيِيض (mādda tabyīḍ) — chemical
- Basque: lixiba — chemical
- Belarusian: адбе́львальнік (adbjélʹvalʹnik) — chemical
- Bislama: losavel — chemical
- Bulgarian: белина (belina) — chemical
- Catalan: lleixiu — chemical
- Chinese Mandarin: 漂白劑 /漂白剂 (piǎobáijì) — chemical
- Czech: bělidlo — chemical
- Danish: blegemiddel — chemical
- Dutch: bleekwater — chemical
- Dutch: Javel — chemical
- Dutch: bleek — chemical
- Esperanto: hipoklorita akvo — chemical
- Esperanto: blankiga likvo — chemical
- Finnish: valkaisuaine — chemical
- French: eau de Javel — chemical
- French: javel — chemical
- Galician: lixivia — chemical
- German: Bleiche — chemical
- German: Bleichmittel — chemical
- Greek: λευκαντικό (lefkantikó) — chemical
- Greek: χλωρίνη (chloríni) — chemical
- Hebrew: אקונומיקה (ekonómika) — chemical
- Hebrew: מלבין (malbín) — chemical
- Hungarian: fehérítő — chemical
- Hungarian: hipó — chemical
- Icelandic: bleikiefni — chemical
- Indonesian: pemutih — chemical
- Irish: tuarthóir — chemical
- Italian: varechina — chemical
- Italian: candeggina — chemical
- Italian: decolorante — chemical
- Italian: sbiancante — chemical
- Japanese: 漂白剤 (hyōhaku-zai) — chemical
- Korean: 표백제 (pyobaekje) — chemical
- Lithuanian: baliklis — chemical
- Macedonian: белило (belilo) — chemical
- Malay: peluntur — chemical
- Malay: pemutih — chemical
- Maltese: bliċ — chemical
- Norwegian Bokmål: blekemiddel — chemical
- Norwegian Bokmål: bleikemiddel — chemical
- Norwegian Nynorsk: bleikemiddel — chemical
- Norwegian Nynorsk: bleikjemiddel — chemical
- Occitan: lessiu — chemical
- Polish: wybielacz — chemical
- Portuguese: lixívia — chemical
- Portuguese: descorante — chemical
- Portuguese: alvejante — chemical
- Portuguese: água sanitária — chemical
- Portuguese: descolorante — chemical
- Russian: бели́льная и́звесть (belílʹnaja ízvestʹ) — chemical
- Russian: бели́льный раство́р (belílʹnyj rastvór) — chemical
- Russian: отбе́ливатель (otbélivatelʹ) — chemical
- Russian: белизна́ (belizná) — chemical
- Serbo-Croatian: избјељивач — chemical
- Serbo-Croatian: izbjeljivač — chemical
- Sicilian: varicchina — chemical
- Slovak: bielidlo — chemical
- Lower Sorbian: bělidło — chemical
- Upper Sorbian: bělidło — chemical
- Spanish: lejía — chemical
- Spanish: lavandina — chemical
- Spanish: blanqueador — chemical
- Spanish: cloro — chemical
- Spanish: recuelo — chemical
- Swedish: blekmedel — chemical
- Thai: ไฮเตอร์ (hai-dtə̂ə) — chemical
- Thai: น้ํายาซักผ้าขาว — chemical
- Turkish: çamaşır suyu — chemical
- Ukrainian: відбі́лювач (vidbíljuvač) — chemical
- Welsh: cannydd — chemical
- Arabic: بَيَّضَ (bayyaḍa) — to treat with bleach
- Bulgarian: избелвам (izbelvam) — to treat with bleach
- Bulgarian: обезцветявам (obezcvetjavam) — to treat with bleach
- Catalan: blanquejar — to treat with bleach
- Chinese Mandarin: 漂白 (piǎobái) — to treat with bleach
- Czech: bělit — to treat with bleach
- Danish: blege — to treat with bleach
- Dutch: bleken — to treat with bleach
- Faroese: bleikja — to treat with bleach
- Finnish: valkaista — to treat with bleach
- French: blanchir — to treat with bleach
- German: bleichen — to treat with bleach
- Greek: λευκαίνω (lefkaíno) — to treat with bleach
- Hebrew: הלבין (hilbín) — to treat with bleach
- Hungarian: kifehérít — to treat with bleach
- Italian: sbiancare — to treat with bleach
- Italian: candeggiare — to treat with bleach
- Italian: imbiancare — to treat with bleach
- Italian: decolorare — to treat with bleach
- Japanese: 漂白する (hyōhaku suru) — to treat with bleach
- Kazakh: ақтау (aqtau) — to treat with bleach
- Korean: 바래다 (baraeda) — to treat with bleach
- Māori: whakakōmā — to treat with bleach
- Māori: whakatoki — to treat with bleach
- Norman: blianchi — to treat with bleach
- Norwegian Bokmål: bleke — to treat with bleach
- Norwegian Bokmål: bleike — to treat with bleach
- Norwegian Nynorsk: bleike — to treat with bleach
- Norwegian Nynorsk: bleikje — to treat with bleach
- Polish: bielić — to treat with bleach
- Polish: wybielić — to treat with bleach
- Portuguese: branquear — to treat with bleach
- Portuguese: descolorir — to treat with bleach
- Portuguese: oxigenar — to treat with bleach
- Portuguese: alvejar — to treat with bleach
- Russian: бели́ть (belítʹ) — to treat with bleach
- Russian: отбе́ливать (otbélivatʹ) — to treat with bleach
- Russian: отбели́ть (otbelítʹ) — to treat with bleach
- Sicilian: passari a varicchina — to treat with bleach
- Slovak: bieliť — to treat with bleach
- Slovak: vybieliť — to treat with bleach
- Slovak: odfarbiť — to treat with bleach
- Spanish: blanquear — to treat with bleach
- Spanish: curar — to treat with bleach
- Spanish: decolorar — to treat with bleach
- Spanish: oxigenar — to treat with bleach
- Spanish: descolorar — to treat with bleach
- Spanish: aclarar — to treat with bleach
- Spanish: enlejiar — to treat with bleach
- Swedish: bleka — to treat with bleach
- Turkish: rengini açmak — to treat with bleach
- Welsh: cannu — to treat with bleach