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Glite Dictionary
🙈 To hide faults 🙈 A cover-up 🧱 To paint white 🧱 A white liquid 🏆 A total defeat
whitewash

whitewash

1 7.5
A defeat in which one side scores no points
  • noun
  • /ˈwaɪtˌwɔʃ/
translation icon : blanqueada
  • Elmer Dessens went seven scoreless for the first Arizona whitewash, while that accomplishment was later matched by none other than Chris Capuano.

Examples

  • Fans were shocked by the whitewash in the championship game, as their favorite team didn't score at all.

  • So it's a total whitewash.

    Blog text (27)

  • He was expecting a nice clean whitewash here.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • The team's loss was a complete whitewash, with the final score showing zero points for them.

  • After the whitewash in the series, the coach knew major changes were needed to improve performance.

Synonyms

defeat
vswhitewash
275 2.5

A loss in a game, match, or election that means you do not win

refers specifically to losses with no points scored mainly in sports
skunk
vswhitewash
  • US
1 9.1

A loss in a game where one team scores no points

is used especially in games or sports for such scoreless losses

How Complete

whitewash
1 7.5
blowout
  • Informal
23 3.7
defeat
275 2.5

Surface Forms

whitewash singular
whitewashes plural

Morphology

whitewash = white + wash (opaque) = white + wash

The sports sense ('a defeat in which the losing side scores nothing') is a metaphorical extension that an average learner cannot deduce from the literal parts.

Etymology

A helpful way to remember the sports sense of whitewash is to think of wash + white: a complete 'washing' that leaves nothing behind. That image explains a whitewash in a game, where one team beats the other so completely the losers score nothing.