sustainwash

English

Etymology

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.

Verb

sustainwash (third-person singular simple present sustainwashes, present participle sustainwashing, simple past and past participle sustainwashed)

1. To engage in the sustainability analogue of greenwashing.

   wondering whether the advertisement's talk of sustainability might be trying to sustainwash the reality