Bleach vs. Detergent — What's the Difference?

Bleach is the generic name for any chemical product that is used industrially and domestically to remove color from a fabric or fiber or to clean or to remove stains in a process called bleaching. It often refers, specifically, to a dilute solution of sodium hypochlorite, also called "liquid bleach".

A detergent is a surfactant or a mixture of surfactants with cleansing properties in dilute solutions. These substances are usually alkylbenzene sulfonates, a family of compounds that are similar to soap but are more soluble in hard water, because the polar sulfonate (of detergents) is less likely than the polar carboxylate (of soap) to bind to calcium and other ions found in hard water.

To remove the color from, as by means of chemical agents or sunlight

A water-soluble cleansing agent which combines with impurities and dirt to make them more soluble, and differs from soap in not forming a scum with the salts in hard water

To make white or colorless

Relating to detergents or their action

To whiten by causing the death or expulsion of algal symbionts from (coral).

A cleansing substance that acts similarly to soap but is made from chemical compounds rather than fats and lye.

To act as or use a bleach.

Having cleansing power.

To become white as a result of the loss of algal symbionts, usually following an environmental stress such as increased water temperature. Used of coral.

Any non-soap cleaning agent, especially a synthetic surfactant.

A chemical agent used for bleaching.

Syn of cleansing.

The act of bleaching.

Cleansing; purging.

The degree of bleaching obtained.

A surface-active chemical widely used in industry and laundering

(archaic) Pale; bleak.

A cleansing agent that differs from soap but can also emulsify oils and hold dirt in suspension

(transitive) To treat with bleach, especially so as to whiten (fabric, paper, etc.) or lighten (hair).

Having cleansing power

(intransitive) To be whitened or lightened (by the sun, for example).

To lose color due to stress-induced expulsion of symbiotic unicellular algae.

To make meaningless; to divest of meaning; to make empty.

(uncountable) A chemical, such as sodium hypochlorite or hydrogen peroxide, or a preparation of such a chemical, used for disinfecting or whitening.

(countable) A variety of bleach.

An act of bleaching; exposure to the sun.

A disease of the skin.

To make white, or whiter; to remove the color, or stains, from; to blanch; to whiten.

To grow white or lose color; to whiten.

The whiteness that results from removing the color from something;

An agent that makes things white or colorless

The act of whitening something by bleaching it (exposing it to sunlight or using a chemical bleaching agent)

Remove color from;

Make whiter or lighter;