bleaches

verb

present tense third-person singular of bleach
as in fades
to make white or whiter by removing color bleached the stained shirt back to its original white

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of bleaches His owner, Hannah Gleason from Oklahoma, told Newsweek that the merle gene isn’t a coloring gene rather than a gene that bleaches the fur and causes lack of pigmentation which can lead to birth defects, blindness, deafness, or sometimes all three. — Maria Azzurra Volpe, MSNBC Newsweek, 14 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bleaches
  1. fades
  2. brightens
  3. whitens
Verb
  • Without someone to introduce the work, answer questions, or model what a career in the field looks like, the specialty fades into the background.
    — Gregory McDonald, STAT, 13 July 2026
  • Their heads are orange, stark against the dark blue hue of their torso, which fades to white, then orange and finally black down the length of their tails.
    — Rylan DiGiacomo-Rapp, The Orlando Sentinel, 13 July 2026
Definition of fades
Verb
  • Your 1st House of Identity brightens as the dynamic Sun in your sign squares structuring Saturn in your 10th House of Career.
    — Tarot.com, Baltimore Sun, 6 July 2026
  • The brand uses tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate, a gentle, stabilized form of vitamin C that brightens and protects against premature aging.
    — Reece Andavolgyi, InStyle, 4 July 2026
Definition of brightens
Verb
  • According to Hill, good old-fashioned sunlight naturally kills bacteria, refreshes items, and whitens fabrics.
    — Mary Cornetta, Better Homes & Gardens, 4 Jan. 2026
Definition of whitens

Browse Nearby Words

bleached
bleaches
bleaching
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Bleaches.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bleaches. Accessed 15 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on bleaches

Nglish: Translation of bleaches for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

The Longest Long Words List

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
banana-mirrored
Contradictory Words Quiz Pick out which word means one thing…and the opp...
See All