What does "blanch" mean?
To grow or become white.
Blanch
/blɑːnt͡ʃ/ name, verb
name, verb ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: To grow or become white.
- Grammar: blanch is listed as name, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: pale, parboil, ache, achromatize.
- Useful contrasts: flushes, flushing, color.
- Usage evidence: Yet hist! faint eerie tones are sometimes heard — which blanch the cheek and palsy all the limbs — like to the moaning of departed souls!
How to use "blanch"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "blanch" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "blanch" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "blanch" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "blanch" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "blanch" is acting as name, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "pale" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "blanch", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Verb
- 1 To grow or become white. intransitive
"His cheek blanched with fear."
- 2 To avoid, as from fear; to evade; to leave unnoticed.
"Ifs and ands to qualify words of treason; whereby every man might express his malice, and blanch his danger."
- 3 turn pale, as if in fear wordnet
- 4 To take the color out of, and make white; to bleach. transitive
"to blanch linen"
- 5 To cause to turn aside or back.
"to blanch a deer"
Show 9 more definitions
- 6 cook (vegetables) briefly wordnet
- 7 To cook by dipping briefly into boiling water, then directly into cold water. transitive
- 8 To use evasion.
"Books will speak plain, when counsellors blanch."
- 9 To whiten, for example the surface of meat, by plunging into boiling water and afterwards into cold, so as to harden the surface and retain the juices. transitive
- 10 To bleach by excluding light, for example the stalks or leaves of plants by earthing them up or tying them together. transitive
- 11 To make white by removing the skin of, for example by scalding. transitive
"to blanch almonds"
- 12 To give a white lustre to (silver, before stamping, in the process of coining) transitive
- 13 To cover (sheet iron) with a coating of tin. intransitive
- 14 To give a favorable appearance to; to whitewash; to whiten; figuratively, transitive
"c. 1680, John Tillotson, The indispensable necessity of the knowledge of the Holy Scripture Blanch over the blackest and most absurd things."
Proper Noun
- 1 A female given name from French, a less common spelling of Blanche.
"That daughter there of Spain, the Lady Blanch, / Is near to England: look upon the years / Of Lewis the Dauphin and the lovely maid. / If lusty love should go in quest of beauty, / Where should he find it fairer than in Blanch?"
Example
"Yet hist! faint eerie tones are sometimes heard — which blanch the cheek and palsy all the limbs — like to the moaning of departed souls!"
Common questions
What is a synonym for "blanch"?
Common synonyms include: pale, parboil, ache, achromatize, agonize, ail.
How do you use "blanch" in a sentence?
Yet hist! faint eerie tones are sometimes heard — which blanch the cheek and palsy all the limbs — like to the moaning of departed souls!
How do you pronounce "blanch"?
Pronounced /blɑːnt͡ʃ/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English blaunchen, from Old French blanchir, from Old French blanc (“white”), from Early Medieval Latin blancus, from Frankish *blank, from Proto-Germanic *blankaz (“bright, shining, blinding, white”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleyǵ- (“to shine”). Cognates Cognate with blench (“to deceive, to trick”) through Proto-Indo-European, whence other etymology of blanch.
Etymology 2
Variant of blench, of same Proto-Indo-European origin.