whitelist

American  

[wahyt-list, hwahyt-] / ˈwaɪtˌlɪst, ˈʰwaɪt- /

noun

1. a list of novels, motion pictures, etc., deemed suitable for juveniles, members of a particular faith, or other specified groups of individuals.

2. a list of people thought by a business concern to be qualified or otherwise suitable for employment.

3. a list of business establishments approved for patronage because of hiring practices, religious or political affiliations, etc.

4. a list kept by a labor union, containing the names of employers who maintain working conditions approved by the union.

5. a list of individuals, organizations, etc., having security clearance from government officials.

6. Digital Technology.

   1. a list of email addresses or web addresses that are allowed to pass through a spam filter.

      The company sent a reminder to their shoppers to add the new-orders email to their whitelist, or else receipts could be snagged by the spam filter.

   2. a list of trusted software programs allowed to access a device or operating system.

      The antivirus program can’t fully protect your computer if you keep overriding it to add apps to its whitelist.

7. a list of places to or from which one may travel without restriction.

   a whitelist where tourists are permitted entry without mandatory quarantine.

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verb (used with object)

1. to put on a whitelist.

Etymology

Origin of whitelist

First recorded in 1905–10; white ( def. ) + list ¹ ( def. ), modeled on blacklist ( def. )

Example Sentences

There are also administrative hurdles, such as teachers having to manually whitelist content and incompatibility with certain learning management systems districts use, some school officials said.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 29, 2026

In prisons, Delaney said, the whitelist approach leads to “a very closed-down version of the internet.”

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 30, 2025

Companies will no longer need to be on a "whitelist" to resume production starting from 1 June.

From BBC • May 29, 2022

He added, “There has never been a whitelist that exempts publishers, including Breitbart, from Facebook’s rules against misinformation.”

From Washington Post • Oct. 22, 2021

We do not desire to blacklist any firm," declared Mrs. Nathan, "but we can whitelist those firms which treat their employees humanely.

From What eight million women want by Dorr, Rheta Childe