verb · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
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
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/səˈsteɪnwɒʃ/
rhymes with -eɪnwɒʃ
1
verb
Meaning 1
To engage in the sustainability analogue of, or subset of, greenwashing.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
wondering whether the advertisement's talk of sustainability might be trying to sustainwash the reality
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: greenwash
History
Etymology
From sustain + -wash, following the established pattern of greenwash, pinkwash, and similar forms (which came ultimately from the figurative-extension sense of whitewash as "to slap a paintjob over the truth to hide it and to give a specious nice appearance"); this form also rhymes with brainwash, as does humanewash.