bleach

eau de Javel

Produit chimique utilisé pour rendre les choses plus blanches ou tuer les microbes.

En anglais simple : A chemical used to make things whiter or to kill germs.

• She bought a bottle of bleach.
• Use bleach to remove the stains from these white towels.
• The cleaner disinfected the floor with bleach.

Expressions courantes : bottle of bleach, chlorine bleach, household bleach

blanchir, décolorer

Rendre quelque chose blanc ou plus clair, notamment avec des produits chimiques.

En anglais simple : To make something white or lighter in colour, especially using chemicals.

• She wants to bleach her hair.
• The sun had bleached the old curtains.
• They bleached the cotton before dyeing it.

Synonymes : whiten, lighten

Contraires : darken

Expressions courantes : bleach your hair, bleach something white, bleach the fabric

blanchir

Pour un corail, perdre sa couleur en expulsant sous l’effet du stress les petits organismes qui vivent en lui.

En anglais simple : For coral to lose its colour when stress makes it release the tiny organisms living inside it.

• Corals bleach when the water gets too warm.
• Large areas of the reef bleached last summer.
• Repeated heatwaves can cause corals to bleach again.

Expressions courantes : corals bleach, reefs bleach

vider de sens

Supprimer ou affaiblir le sens d’un mot ou d’une expression.

En anglais simple : To remove or weaken the meaning of a word or expression.

• Repeated use can bleach a word’s meaning.
• The verb has been semantically bleached over time.
• These changes bleach the expression of its original force.

Expressions courantes : bleach the meaning, semantically bleach something