brush synonyms

brush

n.

  1. A brushing instrument] Common types of brushes include: bristle, fiber, wire, nail, clothes, camel's hair, hydraulic, rotary, paint, tooth, scrubbing, bottle, floor, hair, bath, dust;

  2. A touch

    rub, tap, stroke, graze; see touch 2.

  3. A light encounter

    skirmish, scrap, patrol action; see battle 1, fight 1.

  4. Underbrush

    thicket, boscage, undergrowth, second growth, chaparral, cover, brushwood, shrubbery, canebrake, grove, hedge, underwood, gorse, bracken, sedge, scrub, copse, coppice, spinney, dingle, brake; see also bush 1.

  5. *The act of ignoring

    cut, slight, rebuff, brushoff*; see insult, rudeness.

brush

v.

  1. To clean by brushing

    sweep, whisk, wipe; see clean.

  2. To touch lightly

    stroke, smooth, graze; see touch.

Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus Copyright © 1999 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.