Whitewashed
adj, verb ·2 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 simple past and past participle of whitewash form-of, participle, past
- 1 Of or pertaining to a fence or wall that has been painted with the temporary paint whitewash.
- 2 Having had any controversy or potential for scandal removed, ignored or downplayed.
"Steve Bannon, the former Trump adviser and still-influential MAGA voice, posed the question others were already repeating: "How does an anti–deep state administration put out something this whitewashed? This is not what people voted for.""
- 3 Having been subjected to racial whitewashing: made to be or seem more white (Caucasian); for example, having been made to appear whiter via makeup, or by being illustrated in pictures or portrayed in films as white (despite originally or properly being nonwhite).
"Hiro's a Japanese guy, Kim's an Indian guy. The transition for the three of us, goin' from a very mixed Chicago area to the very whitewashed Northwest, was kinda weird. It took me years to kinda deal with, Is this a real city? Where are the other people?"
- 1 coated with whitewash wordnet
Synonyms
All synonymsAntonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"The Avonlea school was a whitewashed building, low in the eaves and wide in the windows, furnished inside with comfortable substantial old-fashioned desks that opened and shut, and were carved all over their lids with the initials and hieroglyphics of three generations of school children."
Etymology
From whitewash + -ed.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.