bleach
Americanverb (used with object)
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bleaches,
present (3rd person singular)
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bleached,
past participle, past
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bleaching
present participle
-
to make whiter or lighter in color, such as by exposure to sunlight or a chemical agent; remove the color from.
Do you think she bleaches her hair?
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to cause (coral) to undergo a loss of color that indicates declining health: caused by a loss of the algae that normally live symbiotically in the coral’s tissues.
In sufficient concentrations, the chemicals in certain sunscreens can bleach coral.
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Photography. to convert (the silver image of a negative or print) to a silver halide, either to remove the image or to change its tone.
verb (used without object)
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bleaches,
present (3rd person singular)
-
bleached,
past participle, past
-
bleaching
present participle
-
to become whiter or lighter in color.
The grass in the fields gradually bleached as winter approached, leaving the landscape pale and drab.
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(of coral) to undergo a loss of color that indicates declining health: caused by a loss of the algae that normally live symbiotically in the coral’s tissues.
Coral reefs are bleaching due to ocean pollution and rising sea temperatures.
noun
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bleaches
plural
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a bleaching agent.
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an act of bleaching.
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degree of paleness achieved in bleaching.
verb
noun
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a bleaching agent
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the degree of whiteness resulting from bleaching
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the act of bleaching
Synonym Usage
See whiten.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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bleachabilitynoun
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bleachernoun
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nonbleachnoun
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overbleachverb
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rebleachverb
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bleachableadjective
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half-bleachedadjective
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semibleachedadjective
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unbleachedadjective
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unbleachingadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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bleachsimple
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bleachessimple
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have bleachedperfect
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has bleachedperfect
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am bleachingprogressive
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are bleachingprogressive
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is bleachingprogressive
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have been bleachingperfect progressive
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has been bleachingperfect progressive
Past
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bleachedsimple
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had bleachedperfect
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was bleachingprogressive
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were bleachingprogressive
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had been bleachingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of bleach
First recorded before 1050; Middle English blechen, Old English blǣcean, derivative of blāc “pale”; cognate with Old Norse bleikja, Old High German bleichēn
Explanation
To bleach is to whiten, or to strip of color. After many summers of use, the sun will bleach your favorite beach towel. You might bleach your white laundry, or bleach your dark brown hair until it's pale blonde. In both cases, you use bleach, a strong chemical solution that can often be found in laundry rooms and hair salons. The Old English root word is blæcan, "bleach" or "whiten," from a Germanic source it curiously shares with the word black.
Vocabulary lists containing bleach
"Ad Power," "Without Commercials," and "What's Wrong with Advertising"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
In a sport full of elaborate buzz cuts and eye-searing bleach jobs, Erling’s striking blond mane, pulled into a tight bun, became one of the enduring images of the tournament.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026
We dyed our hair with food color and bleach and kept it straight with egg whites.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026
If you keep feeding wild birds, it’s vital to regularly clean all feeding surfaces and equipment using domestic bleach.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 24, 2026
Residents in Patagonia know how to protect themselves from the virus, which they refer to as "the hanta," by airing out sheds and cleaning areas with bleach.
From Barron's ● May 11, 2026
It was scratchy and smelled like bleach, but it was clean.
From "Root Magic" by Eden Royce
At altitudes less than 1 km in the atmosphere, conditions are relatively warm and humid so smoke particles are often not very viscous and brown carbon bleaches quickly.
From Salon ● Nov. 13, 2022
Explore hands-on activities with the UW community, tour the Burke Museum fish collections, learn why coral bleaches and more at the Students Explore Aquatic Sciences’ open house 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
From Seattle Times ● May 19, 2022
The disinfectants, bleaches and sanitizers we’ve relied on during the pandemic can irritate our eyes, skin and throat, not to mention ruin some of our favorite clothing.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 23, 2021
At the end, the audiences from both parts returned to the bleaches for a bleak look at that ravishment.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 30, 2020
It lightens the polish to a bright vomit green and bleaches the carpet surrounding it.
From "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson
The new findings suggest another possibility: helping bleached corals recover quickly enough to survive the dangerous period following a marine heat wave.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 19, 2026
Through these connections, beneficial algae and the nutrients they produce could pass from the healthy coral into the bleached one.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 19, 2026
"While bleached corals may be dying, they are not dead yet," said lead author Danny Collins, an oceans PhD student at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 19, 2026
However, it is possible to extract healthy symbionts and culture them -- and the team is now thinking about ways to re-introduce them en masse to bleached coral.
From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026
A shearing had brought a veritable mountain of gray wool to be washed and bleached and dyed, enough to keep Mercy carding and spinning and weaving for the next twelve months.
From "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" by Elizabeth George Speare
According to a study published on October 14 in Science Advances, this represents the fastest documented recovery from coral bleaching.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 19, 2026
Researchers could then deliver large quantities of these algae to damaged corals after bleaching events, potentially allowing them to recover much faster.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 19, 2026
"That this coming event is worse than that, after three intervening global bleaching events ... is a terrifying reality," he said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026
The South Pacific is among the regions of the world most vulnerable to global warming -- from rising seas jeopardising homes to increasing temperatures causing coral bleaching.
From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026
The morning is bleaching the edges of the sky.
From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García
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