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schönfärben — meaning in English

German → English · translate English → German instead

English meaning

  • gloss noun A shiny, polished surface.
  • whitewash noun A cheap white paint made from lime or chalk mixed with water, used to coat walls and fences.

Senses

schönfärben is used for these senses in English:

  • gloss (transitive) To make (something) attractive by deception
  • whitewash A thing used to hide mistakes, or to create an appearance of honesty, propriety, etc.; also (often, politics) , an act of hiding mistakes or creating an appearance of honesty, propriety, etc.; especially, a campaign, investigation, etc., which intentionally hides or overlooks unfavourable facts.
  • whitewash (often, politics) To hide (someone's) mistakes, or to create an appearance of honesty, propriety, etc., for (someone); also, to intentionally hide or overlook (mistakes, unfavourable facts, wrongdoing, etc.).

gloss — full definition

  1. noun A shiny, polished surface.
  2. noun An impressive appearance that hides something less impressive underneath.
  3. verb (usually "gloss over") To skim past or downplay a problem instead of properly addressing it.
  4. noun A brief note explaining a difficult or foreign word, often placed in the margin or between the lines of a text.

whitewash — full definition

  1. noun A cheap white paint made from lime or chalk mixed with water, used to coat walls and fences.
  2. noun An attempt to cover up mistakes or wrongdoing and make something look better than it is.
  3. verb To paint something with whitewash.
  4. verb To conceal unpleasant facts or wrongdoing in order to protect someone's reputation.
  5. noun A total, one-sided victory in which the losing side fails to score at all.

Related German words