as in to bleach
to make white or whiter by removing color
years of sunlight had almost completely whitened the flag
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 whiten
What are some natural alternatives to bleach for whitening clothes?
—
Ashlyn Needham, Southern Living, 12 July 2025
Prizes were presented at a special awards night and included a three-night stay in Athens for the winner, Hemingways, a cocktail bar, as well as a teeth whitening voucher worth £425 ($578).
—Caoimhe O'Neill, New York Times, 10 July 2025
Original price: $20.99 Crest Pro-Health gum detoxify toothpaste helps reverse gingivitis and whiten your teeth at the same time.
—Christopher Murray
May Earn A Commission If You Buy Through Our Referral Links. This Content Was Created By A Team That Works Independently From The Fox Newsroom., FOXNews.com, 3 July 2025
How to use: Step one: Brush your teeth to remove any debris and prepare for whitening.
—Daley Quinn, Glamour, 11 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for whiten
Ashlyn Needham, Southern Living, 12 July 2025
Prizes were presented at a special awards night and included a three-night stay in Athens for the winner, Hemingways, a cocktail bar, as well as a teeth whitening voucher worth £425 ($578).
—Caoimhe O'Neill, New York Times, 10 July 2025
Original price: $20.99 Crest Pro-Health gum detoxify toothpaste helps reverse gingivitis and whiten your teeth at the same time.
—Christopher Murray
May Earn A Commission If You Buy Through Our Referral Links. This Content Was Created By A Team That Works Independently From The Fox Newsroom., FOXNews.com, 3 July 2025
How to use: Step one: Brush your teeth to remove any debris and prepare for whitening.
—Daley Quinn, Glamour, 11 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for whiten
Recent Examples of Synonyms for whiten
Verb
-
Australia’s iconic Great Barrier Reef, famed for its stunning colors and biodiversity, suffered its biggest ever decline last year after a marine heatwave bleached vast swathes of hard coral, a new report has found.—
Jessie Yeung,
CNN Money,
6 Aug. 2025
-
Since recording began in 1980, mass bleaching events on the Great Barrier Reef, which can lead to widespread mortality, appeared first in 1998 and have been found in the last 27 years of steadily rising temperatures—in 1998, 2002, 2016, 2017, 2020, 2022, 2024 and 2025.—
Ian Dexter Palmer,
Forbes.com,
4 Aug. 2025
Verb
-
The television had faded to a speck and Ted took my other hand and the three of us snaked from the room.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
7 Aug. 2025
-
That uptick in sales and streams hasn’t faded just yet, even though the shock has largely worn off.—
Hugh McIntyre,
Forbes.com,
7 Aug. 2025
Verb
-
After predictably dimming for multiple months, the stellar explosion inexplicably began brightening again.—
Andrew Paul,
Popular Science,
14 Aug. 2025
-
Only the edges of the sand dunes, and the sky just above them, were beginning to brighten.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
8 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Whiten.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/whiten. Accessed 21 Aug. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share