whitewash
to cover-up a mistake and make a bad situation look good
TRANSLATION
whitewash = etwas beschönigen, rein waschen, schönfärben, jemandem einen Persilschein ausstellen, übertünchen - einen Gegner (Sport) besiegen, in dem man ihn daran hindert, auch nur einen Punkt zu erzielen (woerterbuch.de, DH) --- GOOGLE INDEX whitewash: approximately 2,300,000 hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
A Home Office investigation into the foreign convictions fiasco was dismissed as a WHITEWASH tonight after ministers were cleared of all wrongdoing.
(The Guardian)
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"There will be no WHITEWASH in the White House.”
- disgraced former U.S. President Richard Nixon speaking about the Watergate affair
(The Guardian)
---
"There will be no WHITEWASH in the White House.”
- disgraced former U.S. President Richard Nixon speaking about the Watergate affair
Did you
know?
whitewash
verb
- to make something bad seem acceptable by hiding the truth
- to defeat a player or team completely, especially while preventing them from scoring any points
- to cover a surface with whitewash, a white liquid that is a mixture of lime or powdered chalk and water
(adapted from The Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
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WORD ORIGIN
The verb whitewash, as in washing a building surface with white liquid, was first recorded in 1591.
Whitewash is an inexpensive paint made from hydrated lime (calcium hydroxide) or chalk. Other additives have historically included liquid glass (sodium silicate), glue, Portland cement, salt, soap, milk or flour. Through a reaction with carbon dioxide in the atmosphere whitewash forms calcium carbonate. It was the most common paint in the 19th century.
Many people think of Tom Sawyer when they hear the word whitewashing. In Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, young Tom faces the prospect of whitewashing Aunt Polly's picket fence as punishment. Tom, being a resourceful and clever little guy, instead tricks his friends into performing the task for him.
The figurative sense of "covering up, hiding or concealing” was first recorded in 1762, but you could say that history is "awash” (full of) with whitewash. From the early days of Roman political intrigue to modern-day scandals such as the fall of Enron, whitewashing has been a common practice across the centuries.
Whitewashing can be relatively harmless, such as the young boy who tries to change the math grade on his report card before bringing it home to his parents; or it can lead to the downfall of a president, such as the Nixon administration's attempt to cover-up the Watergate affair in the early 70s.
Whitewashing is also used in sports to note a victory when the opposing team/player is soundly defeated or scores no points at all. For instance:
England whitewash Kiwis!
England secured a 3-0 series win over New Zealand with a thrilling four-wicket victory in the final Test.
Germany whitewashed Ecuador 3-0 to top Group A at the World Cup on Tuesday.
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SYNONYMS
blanch, camouflage, conceal, cover-up, exonerate, extenuate, gloss over, launder, liberate, paint, palliate, sugarcoat, suppress, varnish, veneer, vindicate, white, whiten
(Roget's New Millennium™ Thesaurus)
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ANTONYMS
divulge, expose, reveal, tell the truth, uncover, unmask, unveil
(Roget's New Millennium™ Thesaurus)
---
IMPRESS YOUR FRIENDS TODAY
say something like:
"I believe that report has been whitewashed. Those sales figures just don't make sense!”
verb
- to make something bad seem acceptable by hiding the truth
- to defeat a player or team completely, especially while preventing them from scoring any points
- to cover a surface with whitewash, a white liquid that is a mixture of lime or powdered chalk and water
(adapted from The Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
---
WORD ORIGIN
The verb whitewash, as in washing a building surface with white liquid, was first recorded in 1591.
Whitewash is an inexpensive paint made from hydrated lime (calcium hydroxide) or chalk. Other additives have historically included liquid glass (sodium silicate), glue, Portland cement, salt, soap, milk or flour. Through a reaction with carbon dioxide in the atmosphere whitewash forms calcium carbonate. It was the most common paint in the 19th century.
Many people think of Tom Sawyer when they hear the word whitewashing. In Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, young Tom faces the prospect of whitewashing Aunt Polly's picket fence as punishment. Tom, being a resourceful and clever little guy, instead tricks his friends into performing the task for him.
The figurative sense of "covering up, hiding or concealing” was first recorded in 1762, but you could say that history is "awash” (full of) with whitewash. From the early days of Roman political intrigue to modern-day scandals such as the fall of Enron, whitewashing has been a common practice across the centuries.
Whitewashing can be relatively harmless, such as the young boy who tries to change the math grade on his report card before bringing it home to his parents; or it can lead to the downfall of a president, such as the Nixon administration's attempt to cover-up the Watergate affair in the early 70s.
Whitewashing is also used in sports to note a victory when the opposing team/player is soundly defeated or scores no points at all. For instance:
England whitewash Kiwis!
England secured a 3-0 series win over New Zealand with a thrilling four-wicket victory in the final Test.
Germany whitewashed Ecuador 3-0 to top Group A at the World Cup on Tuesday.
---
SYNONYMS
blanch, camouflage, conceal, cover-up, exonerate, extenuate, gloss over, launder, liberate, paint, palliate, sugarcoat, suppress, varnish, veneer, vindicate, white, whiten
(Roget's New Millennium™ Thesaurus)
---
ANTONYMS
divulge, expose, reveal, tell the truth, uncover, unmask, unveil
(Roget's New Millennium™ Thesaurus)
---
IMPRESS YOUR FRIENDS TODAY
say something like:
"I believe that report has been whitewashed. Those sales figures just don't make sense!”
