Brownwash

verb

verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To rebrand, cover up or divert attention from amoral, illicit or criminal activities by establishing partnerships or connections with legitimate, value-based organizations e.g. NGOs. rare

    "Company X are brownwashing when they say they are partners with child rights NGO Y, yet employ child labor in their factories in Country Z."

Example

More examples

"Company X are brownwashing when they say they are partners with child rights NGO Y, yet employ child labor in their factories in Country Z."

Etymology

From brown (“best colour to cover up dirt”) + -wash.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.