eco-friendly

Meaning

1. 1adjectivecomparable

   Causing little or no harm to the natural environment.

   Grammar: Goes before a noun or after be: eco-friendly bags, or these bags are eco-friendly.

   Patterns

   • eco-friendly packaging
   • be eco-friendly

   We switched to eco-friendly cleaning products.

   Is this soap really eco-friendly, or just marketed that way?

   The hotel runs an eco-friendly laundry service.

Word forms

Common combinations

eco-friendly products

The store sells only eco-friendly products.

eco-friendly packaging

The company moved to eco-friendly packaging.

truly eco-friendly

Few airlines are truly eco-friendly.

more eco-friendly alternative

A bike is a more eco-friendly alternative to a car.

go eco-friendly

Many offices are trying to go eco-friendly.

Synonyms and how they differ

green

It is shorter and also covers political or lifestyle choices, not only products.

environmentally friendly

It is the full and slightly more formal form of the same idea.

sustainable

It stresses that something can continue without using up resources, so it is a stronger and more technical claim.

biodegradable

It is narrower, because it only says a material breaks down naturally.

Opposites

Word family

eco prefix

relating to the environment

ecology noun

the study of living things and their surroundings

ecological adjective

relating to the environment

greenwashing noun

false claims of being environmentally friendly

Commonly confused: eco-friendly or economical?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “eco-friendly”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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