1. Wash consisting of lime and size in water; used for whitening walls and other surfaces
   "They applied whitewash to the barn to give it a fresh, clean appearance"
    
2. A specious or deceptive clearing that attempts to gloss over failings and defects
   "The report was criticized as a whitewash of the company's environmental violations"
    
3. A defeat in which the losing person or team fails to score
   "The soccer match ended in a 5-0 whitewash"

1. Cover with whitewash
   "whitewash walls"
    
2. Cover up a misdemeanour, fault, or error
   "Let's not whitewash the crimes of Stalin";
   - gloss over, hush up
    
3. Exonerate by means of a perfunctory investigation or through biased presentation of data
   "The committee whitewashed the scandal"
    
4. [informal] Win decisively against an opponent who fails to score
   "The team whitewashed their rivals 5-0"

Derived forms: whitewashes, whitewashing, whitewashed

See also: gloss

Type of: acquit, assoil [archaic], clear, clearing, cover, cover up, defeat, exculpate [formal], exonerate, wash

Encyclopedia: Whitewash