Library / English Dictionary

BLEACH

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of whitening something by bleaching it (exposing it to sunlight or using a chemical bleaching agent)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("bleach" is a kind of...):

lightening; whitening (changing to a lighter color)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bleach"):

etiolation ((botany) the act of causing a plant to develop without chlorophyll by growing it without exposure to sunlight)

Derivation:

bleach (make whiter or lighter)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The whiteness that results from removing the color from something

Example:

a complete bleach usually requires several applications

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("bleach" is a kind of...):

white; whiteness (the quality or state of the achromatic color of greatest lightness (bearing the least resemblance to black))

Derivation:

bleach (remove color from)

Sense 3

Meaning:

An agent that makes things white or colorless

Synonyms:

blanching agent; bleach; bleaching agent; whitener

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("bleach" is a kind of...):

agent (a substance that exerts some force or effect)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bleach"):

benzoyl peroxide (a white crystalline peroxide used in bleaching (flour or oils or fats) and as a catalyst for free radical reactions)

bleaching powder; chloride of lime; chlorinated lime (a white powder comprised of calcium hydroxide and chloride and hypochlorite and used to bleach and/or disinfect)

calcium hypochlorite (any hypochlorite of calcium; used as a bleaching agent)

chlorine dioxide (an explosive gas (ClO2) used chiefly in bleaching paper or starch or soap or flour and in water purification)

chlorine water (an aqueous solution of chlorine used as a bleaching agent)

Clorox (a commercial bleaching agent)

sodium hypochlorite (an unstable salt (NaOCl) used as a bleaching agent and disinfectant)

Holonyms ("bleach" is a substance of...):

bleach liquor (a solution containing bleaching agents that is used to bleach textiles or paper pulp)

liquid bleach (a solution containing bleaching agents; used for laundry)

Derivation:

bleach (make whiter or lighter)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make whiter or lighter

Example:

bleach the laundry

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "bleach" is one way to...):

white; whiten (turn white)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "bleach"):

peroxide (bleach with peroxide)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

bleach (the act of whitening something by bleaching it (exposing it to sunlight or using a chemical bleaching agent))

bleach (an agent that makes things white or colorless)

bleacher (a worker who bleaches (cloth or flour etc.))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Remove color from

Example:

The sun bleached the red shirt

Synonyms:

bleach; bleach out; decolor; decolorise; decolorize; decolour; decolourise; decolourize; discolorise; discolorize; discolourise

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "bleach" is one way to...):

discolor (cause to lose or change color)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

bleach (the whiteness that results from removing the color from something)

bleacher (a worker who bleaches (cloth or flour etc.))

Credits

 Context examples: 

To prevent community-associated MRSA: • Practice good hygiene • Keep cuts and scrapes clean and covered with a bandage until healed • Avoid contact with other people's wounds or bandages • Avoid sharing personal items, such as towels, washcloths, razors, or clothes • Wash soiled sheets, towels, and clothes in hot water with bleach and dry in a hot dryer

(MRSA, NIH: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)

Major environmental changes, largely caused by harmful human activities since European settlement, are adding to the extent of coral bleaching, sea surface temperature rises, declines in coral coverage and water quality; all of which greatly affect the reef’s ability to adapt and survive.

(Major study reveals Great Barrier Reef’s 30,000-year fight for survival, University of Granada)

Martin's sunburn had been bleached by his work in the laundry and by the indoor life he was living, while the hunger and the sickness had made his face even pale; and across this pallor flowed the slow wave of a blush.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The researchers found when fish were plentiful, they would eat algae and seaweed off the corals, which appeared to leave them more resistant to the bacterium Vibrio coralliilyticus, a bacterium associated with bleaching.

(Voracious fish defend coral reefs against warming, Wikinews)

I am simply, in my original state—stripped of that blood-bleached robe with which Christianity covers human deformity—a cold, hard, ambitious man.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)