clean
adjective · noun · verb · adverb
Simple meaning
Free of dirt, filth.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kleenIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈklin
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Free from dirt or impurities; or having clean habits
Free of dirt, filth, or impurities (extraneous matter); not dirty, filthy, or soiled.
of metal
Having relatively few impurities.
Free of contamination, (unwanted) germs, infection, or disease.
Free of imperfections, blemishes, or defects.
Devoid of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
noun
Removal of dirt.
verb
Remove unwanted substances from, such as feathers or pits
Remove all contents or possession from, or empty completely
“The boys cleaned the sandwich platters.”
Remove shells or husks from
transitive
To remove dirt from a place or object.
Make clean by removing dirt, filth, or unwanted substances from
transitive
To tidy up, make a place neat.
adverb
Fully and completely.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Free from dirt or impurities; or having clean habits
Used this way, clean is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use clean
- “Clean up before you see your grandparents.”verb
- “The boys cleaned the sandwich platters.”verb
- “Clean the spots off the rug.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
The act of making something clean.
A preparation used in cleaning something.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Smoothly and without difficulty.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Any of a large class of implements used for cleaning.
A human female employed to do housework.
A pad used as a cleaning implement.
A human female employed to do housework.
A weightlift in which the barbell is lifted to shoulder height and then jerked overhead.
An assurance that someone is healthy or something is in good condition.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
The act of making something clean.
A preparation used in cleaning something.
Clean one's body or parts thereof, as by washing.
A preparation used in cleaning something.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: free from dirt or impurities
Antonyms
Sense: free from dirt or impurities
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.