WHITEN

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does whiten mean? 

• WHITEN (verb)
  The verb WHITEN has 1 sense:

1. turn white

  Familiarity information: WHITEN used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WHITEN (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they whiten    ... he / she / it whitens   
Past simple: whitened   
Past participle: whitened   
-ing form: whitening   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Turn white

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

white; whiten

Context example:

This detergent will whiten your laundry

Hypernyms (to "whiten" is one way to...):

color; colour; discolor; discolour (change color, often in an undesired manner)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "whiten"):

bleach (make whiter or lighter)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Antonym:

blacken (make or become black)

Derivation:

whitener (an agent that makes things white or colorless)

whitening (changing to a lighter color)

 Context examples 

Your bones will whiten up there, and none will know where you lie or come to cover them.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She was but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already begun to whiten, even as mine has.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In this study, mice that were fed a diet high in fat and cholesterol developed hair whitening, hair loss and skin lesions.

(New Experimental Drug Reverses Hair Loss, Skin Damage, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Underneath there was an old boat-cloak, whitened with sea-salt on many a harbour-bar.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

It was a stiff leather purse, with a snap, and had three bright shillings in it, which Peggotty had evidently polished up with whitening, for my greater delight.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The researchers found that a high hair whitening score was associated with increased risk of coronary artery disease independent of chronological age and established cardiovascular risk factors.

(Grey Hair Linked with Increased Heart Disease Risk in Men, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

This month would also be a good time to see about having any dental procedure completed, including tooth whitening or dental surgery and also to focus on bone strength.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

It was a very long street of two-story brick houses, neat and prim, with whitened stone steps and little groups of aproned women gossiping at the doors.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A raw wind was blowing, and the first flurries of snow were whitening the hilltops.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Harker was still and quiet; but over his face, as the awful narrative went on, came a grey look which deepened and deepened in the morning light, till when the first red streak of the coming dawn shot up, the flesh stood darkly out against the whitening hair.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)