clean
Free of dirt, filth, or impurities (extraneous matter); not dirty, filthy, or soiled.
Adjective 4 meanings
Free of dirt, filth, or impurities (extraneous matter); not dirty, filthy, or soiled.
“Are these dishes clean? Your room is finally clean! For a baby, happiness is a full bottle and a clean diaper.”
Free of contamination, (unwanted) germs, infection, or disease.
“Insert a clean swab into your nose.”
Free of imperfections, blemishes, or defects.
Free of immorality or criminality.
“Our kids can watch this movie because it is clean.”
Noun 3 meanings
A removal of dirt.
“This place needs a clean.”
The first part of the event clean and jerk in which the weight is brought from the ground to the shoulders.
Of heavy metal, clear vocals, contrasted with death growls and screams.
Verb 4 meanings
To remove dirt from a place or object.
“Can you clean the windows today?”
To tidy up, make a place neat.
“Clean your room right now!”
To make things clean in general.
“She just likes to clean. That’s why I married her.”
To remove equipment from a climbing route after it was previously lead climbed.
Adverb 1 meaning
Fully and completely.
“He was stabbed clean through.”
Etymology
From Middle English clene, from Old English clāne, clǣne (“clean; pure; clear”), from Proto-West Germanic *klainī (“dainty, fine, small; clean”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *glēy- (“gleaming”), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“to gleam”).
Similar and opposite words
CLEAN at a glance
CLEAN has 5 letters and scores 7 points in Scrabble (C 3 + L 1 + E 1 + A 1 + N 1) and 10 in Words With Friends, before board bonuses. It ranks #1,096 by how often it appears in everyday English. It is valid in ENABLE, NWL2023, Collins/SOWPODS.
Rhymes with clean
All rhymesOne letter away
- CLEAR7
- GLEAN6
- CLEAT7
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