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Whitewash vs Defeat - What's the difference?

whitewash | defeat |

As nouns the difference between whitewash and defeat

is that whitewash is a lime and water mixture for painting walls and fences bright white while defeat is the act of defeating or being defeated.

As verbs the difference between whitewash and defeat

is that whitewash is to paint over with a lime and water mixture so as to brighten up a wall or fence while defeat is to overcome in battle or contest.

whitewash

English

(wikipedia whitewash)

Noun

(es)
  • A lime and water mixture for painting walls and fences bright white.
  • * 1952 : For walls plaster gave a smooth white surface; or if it was not sufficiently white, or had become discoloured, it could be brightened up with a coat of whitewash or paint. — L.F. Salzman, Building in England , p. 157.
  • (sports) A complete victory or series of victories without suffering any losses; a clean sweep.
  • * 2010 , Andrew Miller, Cricinfo :
    • For the first time in a long time, Australia are being threatened with the prospect of a 5-0 whitewash
  • (obsolete) Any liquid composition for whitening something, such as a wash for making the skin fair.
    • (Addison)

    Verb

    (es)
  • To paint over with a lime and water mixture so as to brighten up a wall or fence.
    • The houses looked very bright when they whitewashed the whole neighborhood .
  • (idiomatic) To cover over errors or bad actions.
    • In his sermon, the minister didn't try to whitewash over the sins of his church .
  • (dated) To repay the financial debts of (another person).
  • *
  • To prevent a team from scoring any runs.
  • (acting) To choose white film or television actors to portray characters that were Asian, African, or other races.
  • (pejorative) To make over (an Asian, African, or person of another race, especially a woman) to look Caucasian.

    • Related terms

    * bluewash * greenwash * pinkwash

    See also

    * blackwash

    defeat

    English

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To overcome in battle or contest.
    • Wellington defeated Napoleon at Waterloo.
  • To reduce, to nothing, the strength of.
  • * Tillotson
    • He finds himself naturally to dread a superior Being that can defeat all his designs, and disappoint all his hopes.
  • * A. W. Ward
    • In one instance he defeated his own purpose.
  • To nullify
  • * Hallam
    • The escheators defeated the right heir of his succession.

    Synonyms

    (To overcome in contest) * beat * conquer * overthrow * rout * vanquish

    Related terms

    * defeasance * defeasible * defeater * defeatism * defeatist * defeature

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act of defeating or being defeated.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2012 , date=May 13 , author=Alistair Magowan , title=Sunderland 0-1 Man Utd , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Two defeats in five games coming into this contest, and a draw with Everton, ultimately cost Sir Alex Ferguson's side in what became the most extraordinary finale to the league championship since Arsenal beat Liverpool at Anfield in 1989.}}