bleach

A chemical used to make things whiter or to kill germs.

• She bought a bottle of bleach.
• Use bleach to remove the stains from these white towels.
• The cleaner disinfected the floor with bleach.

Common phrases: bottle of bleach, chlorine bleach, household bleach

To make something white or lighter in colour, especially using chemicals.

• She wants to bleach her hair.
• The sun had bleached the old curtains.
• They bleached the cotton before dyeing it.

Similar words: whiten, lighten

Opposites: darken

Common phrases: bleach your hair, bleach something white, bleach the fabric

For coral to lose its colour when stress makes it release the tiny organisms living inside it.

• Corals bleach when the water gets too warm.
• Large areas of the reef bleached last summer.
• Repeated heatwaves can cause corals to bleach again.

Common phrases: corals bleach, reefs bleach

To remove or weaken the meaning of a word or expression.

• Repeated use can bleach a word’s meaning.
• The verb has been semantically bleached over time.
• These changes bleach the expression of its original force.

Common phrases: bleach the meaning, semantically bleach something