sustainwash
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From sustain + -wash, following the established pattern of greenwash, pinkwash, and similar forms (which came ultimately from the figurative-extension sense of whitewash as "to slap a paintjob over the truth to hide it and to give a specious nice appearance"); this form also rhymes with brainwash, as does humanewash.
Pronunciation
[edit]Verb
[edit]sustainwash (third-person singular simple present sustainwashes, present participle sustainwashing, simple past and past participle sustainwashed)
- To engage in the sustainability analogue of, or subset of, greenwashing.
- Hypernym: greenwash
- wondering whether the advertisement's talk of sustainability might be trying to sustainwash the reality