Word.ws English Dictionary

rainbow washing

rainbow washing noun: the practice of a company presenting itself as gay-friendly to improve its brand image.

Noun

rainbow washing (uncountable)

  1. The practice of a company presenting itself as gay-friendly to improve its brand image.
    • In a world where gay politics are becoming more visible transnationally and globally, rainbow washing serves to paint a picture of a false reality […]2016, Abbie E. Goldberg, The SAGE Encyclopedia of LGBTQ Studies, page 759
    • I'd like to also include rainbow washing. This type of marketing gymnastics occurs every Pride month when corporations unveil new rainbow promotions, decorations, and products for their brand.2022, Britt Hawthorne, Raising Antiracist Children: A Practical Parenting Guide, page 155

Origin of rainbow washing

In reference to the rainbow flag, and from terms like whitewashing and pinkwashing.

Questions about rainbow washing

What does rainbow washing mean?
Rainbow washing means the practice of a company presenting itself as gay-friendly to improve its brand image.
What part of speech is rainbow washing?
Rainbow washing is a noun.

Words near rainbow washing in the dictionary

  1. rainbow table
  2. rainbow tables
  3. rainbow trout
  4. rainbow trouts
  5. rainbow unicorns
  6. rainbow washing
  7. rainbow weed
  8. rainbow wood
  9. rainbow wrasse
  10. rainbow wrasses
  11. rainbow's end

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: rainbow washing (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.

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