- present participle of whitewash.
whitewashing
Americannoun
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the act or process of whitening with whitewash.
The picket fence could use a few minor repairs, but mostly it needs a good whitewashing.
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an instance or methodical practice of covering up or glossing over the faults or errors of someone or something.
Behind her assurances that all the coffee was fair-trade, there always lurked the possibility of some creative whitewashing.
We would have known about this high-level corruption much sooner if it weren’t for the carefully orchestrated whitewashing within the department.
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the casting of a white actor to play a character of color in a film, television show, or play.
Whitewashing has a long tradition in the history of Hollywood casting.
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in a representation of a historical era or event, the focus on a member or members of the dominant cultural group rather than the minority individual or group whose presence would be more historically accurate.
The documentarian's whitewashing preserves the false notion that our race to the moon was won only on the shoulders of white heterosexual men.
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Etymology
Origin of whitewashing
First recorded in 1650–60 whitewashing for def. 1; 1760–70 whitewashing for def. 2; 2005–10 whitewashing for def. 3a; 1995–2000 whitewashing for def. 3b; whitewash ( def. ) + -ing 1 ( def. )
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.
Instead of leaning into cliché or whitewashing, he radiated dignity, cultural pride and a new kind of Black romantic masculinity—sensual without becoming caricature.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 31, 2026
And I agree with Coates when he criticized Klein for whitewashing Charlie Kirk’s legacy, and agree that while we should not celebrate a person’s death, we also shouldn’t paper over who they were in life.
From Slate ● Oct. 6, 2025
Users ask: How do we honor this holiday without whitewashing it?
From Salon ● Jun. 19, 2025
He has, for example, written on Bulgaria whitewashing its role in the atrocity.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 30, 2023
Still sucking his fingers, the boy looked once more at the men whitewashing the stones.
From "Sounder" by William H. Armstrong
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
