Meaning & use
sportswashing
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountabledisapproving
Using sport, such as hosting events or buying teams, to improve the public image of a government or company with a bad reputation.
Grammar: No plural: critics call it sportswashing.
Patterns
- accuse someone of sportswashing
- sportswashing by someone
Human rights groups accused the country of sportswashing by hosting the tournament.
Critics say buying the club is just sportswashing.
Sportswashing works when fans focus on the match instead of the politics.
Common combinations
- accused of sportswashing
- The state was accused of sportswashing.
- charges of sportswashing
- Officials denied charges of sportswashing.
- a form of sportswashing
- Critics called the sponsorship a form of sportswashing.
- engage in sportswashing
- Some governments engage in sportswashing through big events.
Synonyms and how they differ
- whitewashing
- Whitewashing covers hiding wrongdoing by any means, while sportswashing is specifically through sport.
- image laundering
- Image laundering is a wider phrase for cleaning up a reputation using any tool.
- greenwashing
- Greenwashing is false environmental claims, not sport.
Word family
- sportswash verb
- to improve an image through sport
- sportswashed adjective
- cleaned up through sport
- whitewash verb
- to hide faults
- greenwashing noun
- false environmental claims
Commonly confused: sportswashing or greenwashing?
sportswashing vs greenwashing
Greenwashing makes a company look environmentally friendly, while sportswashing uses sport to improve an image.
Practice
A government pays to host a major tournament mainly to distract from its human rights record. Critics call this ___.
Choose one answer.
Sportswashing means using sport to polish a bad image. Greenwashing is similar in structure but concerns environmental claims.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “sportswashing”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.