as in bleaches
to make white or whiter by removing color
years of sunlight had almost completely whitened the flag
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Recent Examples of whitens
According to Hill, good old-fashioned sunlight naturally kills bacteria, refreshes items, and whitens fabrics.
—
Mary Cornetta, Better Homes & Gardens, 4 Jan. 2026
Mary Cornetta, Better Homes & Gardens, 4 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for whitens
Verb
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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
Verb
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As his memory fades, Caroline must navigate the unimaginable.—
Deirdre Durkan,
PEOPLE,
1 May 2026
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However, as the smell fades over time, so will its effectiveness in warding off mice.—
Michelle Mastro,
Martha Stewart,
30 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Going farther west, however, brightens the sky even more and anywhere west of a line from approximately central Michigan, going south through east-central Kentucky to the Gulf Coast will be bathed in full daylight.—
Joe Rao,
Space.com,
24 Apr. 2026
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As a professional online shopper, nothing brightens up my day quite like scoring a budget-friendly haul.—
Clara McMahon,
PEOPLE,
24 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Whitens.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/whitens. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
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