Meaning

4 senses
  1. (transitive)To treat with bleach, especially so as to whiten (fabric, paper, etc.) or lighten (hair).

    bleichen

    бели́тьbelítʹ, отбе́ливатьotbélivatʹ, отбели́тьotbelítʹ

  2. (intransitive)To be whitened or lightened (by the sun, for example).

  3. (intransitive)To lose color due to stress-induced expulsion of symbiotic unicellular algae.

    Once coral bleaching begins, corals tend to continue to bleach even if the stressor is removed.

  4. (figuratively, transitive)To make meaningless; to divest of meaning; to make empty.

    semantically bleached words that have become illocutionary particles

More definitions
  • make whiter or lighter
  • cause to become white or lighter in color

Examples

74 sentences
  1. Don't mix ammonia and bleach together.

    deVermische Ammoniak nicht mit Bleichmittel!

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  2. Tom has bleached his hair again.

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  3. I don't usually use bleach when I wash clothes.

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  4. It's better not to use bleach if you don't need it.

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  5. It smells like bleach.

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Translations

8 languages
Русский
By meaning 1
to treat with bleach:
Deutsch
By meaning 1
to treat with bleach:

Origin

From Middle English blechen, from Old English blǣċan (“to bleach, whiten”), from Proto-Wes

From Middle English blechen, from Old English blǣċan (“to bleach, whiten”), from Proto-West Germanic *blaikijan, from Proto-Germanic *blaikijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to shine”).

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Forms

bleaches, bleaching, bleached, bleached
Base formbleach · to bleach
3rd person singularbleaches
Present participlebleaching
Past simplebleached
Past participlebleached

regular · Lesson

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, theybleach
he, she, itbleaches

Past simpleLesson

all personsbleached

Present perfectLesson

I, you, we, theyhave bleached
he, she, ithas bleached

Future simple (will)Lesson

all personswill bleach

Synonyms

12 synonyms

Word family

5 related words

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
bleach — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto