Word.ws English Dictionary

greenwashing

greenwashing noun: the practice by people, organizations and states of presenting themselves as environmentally-friendly and progressive in order to disguise or divert attention away from their actual environmentally damaging behavior. Also the present participle and gerund of greenwash.

Noun

greenwashing (usually uncountable, plural greenwashings)

  1. (usually) The practice by people, organizations and states of presenting themselves as environmentally-friendly and progressive in order to disguise or divert attention away from their actual environmentally damaging behavior.
    • Fossil fuel lobbyists are trying to water down planned EU rules to stop “investment greenwashing’ by setting science-based criteria for any investment which lays claim to being environmentally sustainable.2019 December 2, Jillian Ambrose, “Fossil fuel lobbyists push to dilute EU anti-greenwash plan”, in The Guardian
    • It's not greenwashing - it makes sense for a whole load of reasons. It demonstrates that we are not just accepting that we have to use diesel for years to come.2023 August 9, Paul Clifton, “Network News: Chiltern services powered by vegetable oil”, in RAIL, number 989, page 13
    Synonyms:
    greenwash

Also used as

greenwashing is also the present participle and gerund of greenwash.

Synonyms of greenwashing

Forms of greenwashing

pluralgreenwashings

Origin of greenwashing

Blend of green + whitewashing (or green + -wash + -ing).

Words formed from greenwashing

Questions about greenwashing

What does greenwashing mean?
Greenwashing means the practice by people, organizations and states of presenting themselves as environmentally-friendly and progressive in order to disguise or divert attention away from their actual environmentally damaging behavior.
What part of speech is greenwashing?
Greenwashing is a noun.
What is the plural of greenwashing?
The plural of greenwashing is greenwashings.

Words near greenwashing in the dictionary

  1. greenwash
  2. greenwashed
  3. greenwasher
  4. greenwashers
  5. greenwashes
  6. greenwashing
  7. greenwashings
  8. greenwater
  9. Greenwater Village
  10. greenwax
  11. greenwaxes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: greenwashing (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

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