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clean

[kleen]

Example Sentences Origin

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adjective

free from dirt; unsoiled; unstained: She bathed and put on a clean dress.

free from foreign or extraneous matter: clean sand.

free from pollution; unadulterated; pure: clean air; clean water.

habitually free of dirt: Cats are considered clean animals.

characterized by a fresh, wholesome quality: the clean smell of pine.

EXPAND

free from all writing or marking: a clean sheet of paper.

having few or no corrections; easily readable: The publisher demanded clean proofs from the printer.

free from roughness or irregularity: He made a clean cut with a razor.

not ornate; gracefully spare; forceful and simple; trim; streamlined: a clean literary style; the clean lines of a ship.

10.

complete; unqualified: a clean break with tradition.

11.

morally pure; innocent; upright; honorable: to lead a clean life.

12.

showing good sportsmanship; fair: a clean fighter.

13.

inoffensive in language or content; without obscenity.

14.

(of a document, record, etc.) bearing no marks of discreditable or unlawful conduct; listing no offenses: a clean driver's license.

15.

Slang.

innocent of any crime.

not having a criminal record.

carrying or containing no evidence of unlawful activity or intent, as controlled substances, unlicensed weapons, or contraband: The agents searched the car for drugs, but it was clean.

not using narcotics.

16.

(of a nuclear weapon) producing little or no radioactive fallout.

17.

not radioactive.

18.

(of a document or financial instrument) free from qualifications or restrictions: a clean bill of lading.

19.

free from defects or flaws: a clean diamond.

20.

free from encumbrances or obstructions.

21.

neatly or evenly made or proportioned; shapely; trim: a clean profile.

22.

made without any unanticipated difficulty or interference: The bank robbers made a clean getaway.

23.

Chiefly Biblical. having no physical or moral blemish or carrying no taboo so as to make impure according to the laws, especially the dietary or ceremonial laws: a clean animal; clean persons.

24.

dexterously performed; adroit: a clean serve in tennis.

25.

(of a jump over an obstacle) made without touching the obstacle.

26.

Slang. having no direct associations, business interests, etc., that could prejudice one's official acts or decisions: The new governor is clean because he's sold his construction business and doesn't owe political favors to anyone.

27.

Slang. without money or funds.

28.

(of wine) having a taste that is unusually refreshing and smooth.

29.

Nautical. (of an anchorage, harbor, etc.) free of obstructions or hazards (opposed to foul).

30.

(of the legs of a horse) free from injury or blemish, as capped hocks, splints, or scars.

31.

Foreign Exchange. (of currency floats) not influenced by exchange-rate manipulation (opposed to dirty).

COLLAPSE

The Maids of West L.A. www.maids.com/ Efficient thorough clean each visit Nobody Outcleans The Maids

adverb

32.

in a clean manner; cleanly: Nobody wants to box with him because he doesn't fight clean.

33.

so as to be clean: This shirt will never wash clean.

34.

Informal. wholly; completely; quite: The sharp carving knife sliced clean through the roast. In a year, he had gone clean through his inheritance.

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Clean is always a great word to know.

So is chutzpa. Does it mean:

unmitigated effrontery or impudence; gall, audacity, or nerve

tense with excitement or anticipation; edgy

LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

verb (used with object)

35.

to make clean: Clean those dirty shoes.

36.

to remove or consume the contents of; empty; clear: She sat down to dinner ravenous and within five minutes had cleaned her plate.

37.

to dry-clean.

38.

to remove the entrails and other inedible parts from (poultry, fish, etc.); dress.

39.

Slang. to take away or win all or almost all the money or possessions of (often followed by out): The cards were marked and I got cleaned.

EXPAND

40.

Metallurgy. to remove the seams from (a casting) by filing or grinding.

41.

Philately. to delete intentionally the cancellation from (a postage or revenue stamp).

COLLAPSE

verb (used without object)

42.

to perform or undergo a process of cleaning: This kind of fabric cleans easily. Detergents clean better than most soaps.

43.

to get rid of dirt, soil, etc. (often followed by up): to spend the morning cleaning.

Verb phrases

44.

clean out,

to empty in order to straighten or clean.

to use up; exhaust: He had cleaned out his savings.

Informal. to drive out by force.

to empty or rid (a place) of occupants, contents, etc.: Eager customers cleaned out the store on the first day of the sale. The thief cleaned out the safe.

Slang. to cause to lose all or almost all one's money or possessions.

45.

clean up,

to wash or tidy up.

to rid of undesirable persons or features: They cleaned up the local bars.

to put an end to; finish: to clean up yesterday's chores.

Informal. to make a large profit: They cleaned up in the stock market.

Idioms

46.

clean full, Nautical.

(of a sail or sails) filled with wind; rap full.

(of a sailing vessel) with all sails full of wind; rap full.

47.

clean house, to wipe out corruption, inefficiency, etc., as in an organization: It's time for the city government to clean house.

48.

clean up one's act. act (def. 27).

49.

come clean, Slang. to tell the truth, especially to admit one's guilt.

Origin:
before 900; Middle English clene, Old English clǣne pure, clear, cognate with Old High German kleini (German klein small)

Related forms

clean·ness, noun

half-cleaned, adjective

o·ver·clean, adjective

o·ver·clean·ly, adverb

o·ver·clean·ness, noun

EXPAND

pre·clean, verb (used with object)

re·clean, verb (used with object)

su·per·clean, adjective

un·cleaned, adjective

COLLAPSE

Can be confused: 1. clean, cleanse (see synonym note at the current entry); 2. cleanliness, cleanness.

Synonyms
1. neat, immaculate. Clean, clear, pure refer to freedom from soiling, flaw, stain, or mixture. Clean refers especially to freedom from soiling: a clean shirt. Clear refers particularly to freedom from flaw or blemish: a clear pane of glass. Pure refers especially to freedom from mixture or stain: a pure metal; not diluted but pure and full strength. 7. legible. 11. unsullied, chaste, virtuous. 19. unblemished, flawless. 34. entirely, thoroughly. 35. scour, scrub, sweep, brush, wipe, mop, dust, wash, rinse, lave, deterge, purify, clear; decontaminate. Clean, cleanse refer to removing dirt or impurities. To clean is the general word with no implication of method or means: to clean windows, a kitchen, streets. Cleanse is especially used of thorough cleaning by chemical or other technical process; figuratively it applies to moral or spiritual purification: to cleanse parts of machinery; to cleanse one's soul of guilt.

Antonyms
1. dirty. 17. contaminated, radioactive. 35. soil.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To clean

Example Sentences

More than a billion people don't have reliable access to clean drinking water.

Those who had been thinking clean thoughts were more likely to deem those practices immoral.

Crews worked around the clock in an attempt to clean up the oil before it could spread too far.

EXPAND

More than a billion people don't have reliable access to clean drinking water.

Those who had been thinking clean thoughts were more likely to deem those practices immoral.

Crews worked around the clock in an attempt to clean up the oil before it could spread too far.

To clean copper pots and pans, sprinkle salt on a lemon wedge.

How to keep your house both clean and safe for your family and pets.

Dab it on and you've got a clean skeleton in a few days or weeks.

If you know you'll be planting bare-root roses at some time in winter, clean up the area and amend the soil in fall.

Pulling out the infrared light in a photo might clean things up, but it can't save a blurred picture.

Of course, if you're not careful, you never clean up the computer.

PlayPumps provide clean drinking water to communities.

We all carry this sin to judge anothers behavior as clean or unclean.

Now it's the dirtiest word in the clean energy business.

Clean up debris and fallen leaves around fruit trees, and remove any dried fruit from branches.

Roomba has also suffered from a small bin that limits how much it can clean on a single battery charge.

She comes once a week for a couple of hours and keeps the house reasonably clean for us.

Water shortages could mean trouble in our race to find enough clean energy to fuel the planet.

When in effect all who believe have been made clean.

The basic premise of cap-and-trade is that government doesn't tell polluters how to clean up their act.

Use a sharp utility knife to cut out a clean square where the damage is.

When you think clean transportation tech, freight trains probably don't come to mind.

Professor create oil sponge that could clean up future disasters.

Bleach is almost synonymous with clean and sanitized white towels, linens and hard surfaces throughout your home.

It took many years to clean up the mess, mostly with robots and remotely operated cranes overseen through video cameras.

Clean design, well-defined spaces, and meticulous attention to detail make even a small corner lot seem spacious and private.

Oh, and don't forget to ring them up and clean off the chairs for the next customer.

Clean food is not, according to first impressions, food that has not been washed adequately.

Rinse off the lawn furniture with clean water and check for spots that need more work.

It can take a long time to clean up from natural disasters.

Plan a menu of her faves, do the grocery shopping, and clean up afterward so mom is free to simply have fun in the kitchen.

Once a week, degrease your chain, scrub it clean and re-grease it.

We already know that literally having clean hands affects your moral judgment.

Clean clothes are a must, but so is a clean environment.

It is described as a clean animal with impressive horns that could cause injury.

They dine on mosquito larvae and help keep the pond water balanced and clean.

It's the gunk that collects on the sides of a fish tank when you forget to clean it.

The products you use to clean your home may actually cause more harm than good.

The males sing to their partners, and the two share a nest and clean each other's feathers.

Lay them flat on the pavement, cap the ends, then flush them clean with water.

It is a clean energy source that can be used in fuel cells.

Worldwide, about one in every seven people has no regular access to clean water-more than one billion people in all.

What resulted were products that were simple, functional and more aesthetically clean than their ornate predecessors.

Bringing outside air into the house is usually an easy and good way to clean out stale air.

Sponge on natural detergent or dry soap with a damp sponge, and wipe up any excess with a clean cloth or sponge.

Science is science and freezing them could never clean them.

Replace or clean clogged drip-emitters and mini-sprinklers.

Many plants can naturally clean chemically contaminated soil and groundwater.

People hustle to put each animal on a clean towel in a cardboard box that once held bananas.

The air is chilly and clean and smells faintly of cedar.

Use straight horizontal or vertical strokes to clean the window.

Gilmore also took the opportunity to clean house a little.

The clean design of this blue and white kitchen is layered with pops of energetic color.

Commercial cleaning products come in a variety of scents, all calculated to convince you that your toilet is clean.

Rescue workers first clean oil off the birds with warm water and mild soap.

The lobbying, negotiating and deal making now begins on clean energy legislation.

I'll even clean out my e-mail in box and give feedback to everyone who sold me something on eBay.

It is also becoming clear that clean living can help those who already have tumours to survive, and may.

Learn how to clean razor clams with our step-by-step guide.

If that's true, it raises a major question for advocates of clean energy:.

But suddenly the battle to clean up government has turned bloody.

Breakthroughs in clean energy technology could spur new jobs and economic growth.

Create an inviting outdoor room with lush plantings, clean lines, and built-in seating.

Other ads tout a fuel that promotes peace and is economical, home-produced, clean and renewable.

Bacteria and other microbes are the only thing that will ultimately clean up the ongoing.

These recipes are easy to prepare, require little clean up.

If it's an open wound, start by flushing it clean of debris with the nearest source of clean water.

The best news in the fight against climate change is that business is starting to invest in clean energy seriously.

Kudos to you for kicking the chemicals to the curb and opting for clean, organic solutions to clean your house.

The world's two largest emitters of greenhouse gases will share innovative technologies to clean up coal burning.

The day of the barbecue, thoroughly mist the leaves with water to clean them before placing the container on the patio table.

It is a good idea to use a non-abrasive cloth to clean any dust or particles present in the lamp compartment.

The terms of the agreement stipulate that students must clean up the campus and restore it to its previous state.

Even a clean nappy would hang around for a long time in a dump.

The changes asked states to do more to keep water clean.

Investing now in clean energy technology will create millions of jobs and lifelong careers.

First, clean them well with with metal polish and a clean cloth.

So would abundant supplies of cheap, reliable, and clean energy.

But there are many more things governments could do to clean up.

Cut a hole big enough around the pumpkin stem so that you can easily clean out the pumpkin.

Find out how divers clean out the buildup in a sewage overflow tunnel.

They want clean water, job opportunities, ethno-education".

Now shareholders are pressuring it to clean up its act.

And then the sun bursts through and all is made clean and meaningful.

It could also make clean firms a lot of filthy cash.

These credits are earned by clean energy facilities as they produce electricity without releasing carbon dioxide.

Scientists try to clean up nanotechnology before it becomes a big business--and a big problem.

Much of this bicentennial celebration is good, clean family fun that's both informative and entertaining.

The clean slate gave them the opportunity to ask themselves what was the space they wanted for their new life.

Europe leading biofuel may also be used to clean contaminants from the ground.

The words of caution offered by clean are important.

After you find your school's watershed, you can investigate how clean it is.

Developing nations spend as much developing clean energy as developed countries.

Features of the bag included separate pockets for clean and dirty laundry, a detachable pillow and a hidden pockets for storage.

It's time to clean up the thousands of pieces of satellite debris.

The lotus leaf s remarkable ability to stay clean inspired development of self-cleaning materials.

The law's intent was to clean up the city's debaucherous.

Clean the trim around your window with a solution of mild dish detergent and water to remove dirt and grease.

And now the critics are counting on accreditors to clean up the problems.

Then help them brainstorm ways that they and other people in the community can help keep the water supply safe and clean.

Despite industry efforts to promote clean coal, answers to the problems of coal ash are lacking.

Road-trippers today don't expect much more from a rest stop than a stale vending machine and, if they're lucky, a clean bathroom.

Wash and rinse the area using a gentle plant-based soap and dry with a clean towel.

Innovators who aim to create a world of cheap, clean energy should heed some basic lessons.

Now concerns are being raised over whether the manufacturing process is clean of any of the banned grains.

Vultures release urine down their legs to clean off bacteria.

The nation's waterways could provide much more clean energy.

We didn't dare try to salvage the spilled grain, even though the sink was clean.

Use plastic cleaner or dish soap with cotton towels to clean frame top as needed.

They help keep the countryside clean of rotting animals.

Where clean water is scarcest, fetching it is almost always women's work.

The work clearly references the world's growing thirst for clean water in the face of shortages, drought and climatic shifts.

The beds are surrounded with pea gravel for a clean look and low maintenance.

Bringing clean water close to people's homes is key to reversing the cycle of misery.

The waters here, once polluted, are now swimming clean.

As you clean out the summer garden, run the lawn mower across the debris.

Communities where clean water becomes accessible and plentiful are transformed.

Each year, hundreds of thousands of volunteers gather to clean up coastlines around the world.

Gombe chimps also use sticks to catch army ants and use leaves to soak up water to drink and to clean themselves.

Keeping your clothes clean uses the second-biggest amount of water in your house.

Try rubbing some olive oil and canola oil on your hair to see how hard it is to clean off.

Soon the manta ray is clean and the fish are done eating.

Make the hole big enough so that you can clean out the pumpkin easily.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

clean (kliːn)

—*adj*
1.	without dirt or other impurities; unsoiled
2.	without anything in it or on it: a clean page
3.	recently washed; fresh
4.	without extraneous or foreign materials
5.	without defect, difficulties, or problems: a clean test flight
6.	a. (of a nuclear weapon) producing little or no radioactive fallout or contamination
	b. Compare dirty uncontaminated
7.	(of a wound, etc) having no pus or other sign of infection
8.	pure; morally sound
9.	without objectionable language or obscenity: a clean joke
10.	(of printer's proofs, etc) relatively free from errors; easily readable: clean copy
11.	thorough or complete: a clean break
12.	dexterous or adroit: a clean throw
13.	sport played fairly and without fouls
14.	simple in design: a ship's clean lines
15.	aeronautics causing little turbulence; streamlined
16.	(of an aircraft) having no projections, such as rockets, flaps, etc, into the airstream
17.	honourable or respectable
18.	habitually neat
19.	(esp of a driving licence) showing or having no record of offences
20.	slang
	a. innocent; not guilty
	b. not carrying illegal drugs, weapons, etc
21.	of a vessel nautical
	a. having its bottom clean
	b. having a satisfactory bill of health
22.	Old Testament
	a. (of persons) free from ceremonial defilement
	b. (of animals, birds, and fish) lawful to eat
23.	New Testament morally and spiritually pure
24.	clean sweep See sweep

—vb
25.	to make or become free of dirt, filth, etc: the stove cleans easily
26.	(tr) to remove in making clean: to clean marks off the wall
27.	(tr) to prepare (fish, poultry, etc) for cooking: to clean a chicken

—*adv*
28.	in a clean way; cleanly
29.	not standard (intensifier): clean forgotten; clean dead
30.	cricket clean bowled bowled by a ball that breaks the wicket without hitting the batsman or his bat
31.	informal come clean to make a revelation or confession

—n
32.	the act or an instance of cleaning: he gave his shoes a clean

[Old English clǣne; related to Old Frisian klēne small, neat, Old High German kleini]

'cleanable

—*adj*

'cleanness

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

clean

O.E. clæne "clean, pure," from W.Gmc. *klainoz "clear, pure," from PIE base *gel- "to gleam" (cf. Gk. glene "eyeball," O.Ir. gel "bright"). As an adj., replaced in higher senses by clear, pure, but as a verb (c.1450) it has largely usurped what once belonged to

EXPAND

cleanse. The adj. clean in the sense of "innocent" is from c.1300; that of "not lewd" is from 1867; that of "free of drug addiction" is 1950s. To take (someone) to the cleaners "get all of (someone's) money" is from 1932

COLLAPSE

Slang Dictionary

clean definition

mod.
not using drugs; not involved with drugs. : I've been clean for more than a month now.
mod.
sober; not intoxicated with drugs at the moment. (Almost the same as sense 1.) : Just being clean for a day is an accomplishment.
mod.
not breaking any law. (Police and underworld.) : I'm clean, officer. You can't charge me with anything.
mod.
not carrying a weapon. (Police and underworld.) : I frisked him. He's clean.
mod.
well-dressed. : Now there's a clean dude!

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source

clean (so) definition

tv.
to get all of someone's money. (See also cleaned out.) : The bill for supper cleaned me out, and we couldn't go to the flick.
tv.
to empty someone's bowels. (See also cleaned out.) : That medicine I took really cleaned me out.

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source

FOLDOC

Computing Dictionary

Clean definition

language
A lazy higher-order purely functional language from the University of Nijmegen. Clean was originally a subset of Lean, designed to be an experimental intermediate language and used to study the graph rewriting model. To help focus on the essential implementation issues it deliberately lacked all syntactic sugar, even infix expressions or complex lists,
As it was used more and more to construct all kinds of applications it was eventually turned into a general purpose functional programming language, first released in May 1995. The new language is strongly typed (Milner/Mycroft type system), provides modules and functional I/O (including a WIMP interface), and supports parallel processing and distributed processing on loosely coupled parallel architectures. Parallel execution was originally based on the PABC abstract machine.
It is one of the fastest implementations of functional languages available, partly aided by programmer annotations to influence evaluation order.
Although the two variants of Clean are rather different, the name Clean can be used to denote either of them. To distinguish, the old version can be referred to as Clean 0.8, and the new as Clean 1.0 or Concurrent Clean.
The current release of Clean (1.0) includes a compiler, producing code for the ABC abstract machine, a code generator, compiling the ABC code into either object-code or assembly language (depending on the platform), I/O libraries, a development environment (not all platforms), and documentation. It is supported (or will soon be supported) under Mac OS, Linux, OS/2, Windows 95, SunOS, and Solaris.
(http://cs.kun.nl/~clean/). E-mail: clean@cs.kun.nl. Mailing list: .
["Clean - A Language for Functional Graph Rewriting", T. Brus et al, IR 95, U Nijmegen, Feb 1987].
["Concurrent Clean", M.C. van Eekelen et al, TR 89-18, U Nijmegen, Netherlands, 1989].
[Jargon File]
(1995-11-08)

clean definition

jargon

1. Used of hardware or software designs, implies "elegance in the small", that is, a design or implementation that may not hold any surprises but does things in a way that is reasonably intuitive and relatively easy to comprehend from the outside. The antonym is "grungy" or crufty.
2. To remove unneeded or undesired files in a effort to reduce clutter: "I'm cleaning up my account." "I cleaned up the garbage and now have 100 Meg free on that partition."
[Jargon File]
(1994-12-12)

Easton

Bible Dictionary

Clean definition

The various forms of uncleanness according to the Mosaic law are enumerated in Lev. 11-15; Num. 19. The division of animals into clean and unclean was probably founded on the practice of sacrifice. It existed before the Flood (Gen. 7:2). The regulations regarding such animals are recorded in Lev. 11 and Deut. 14:1-21. The Hebrews were prohibited from using as food certain animal substances, such as (1) blood; (2) the fat covering the intestines, termed the caul; (3) the fat on the intestines, called the mesentery; (4) the fat of the kidneys; and (5) the fat tail of certain sheep (Ex. 29:13, 22; Lev. 3:4-9; 9:19; 17:10; 19:26). The chief design of these regulations seems to have been to establish a system of regimen which would distinguish the Jews from all other nations. Regarding the design and the abolition of these regulations the reader will find all the details in Lev. 20:24-26; Acts 10:9-16; 11:1-10; Heb. 9:9-14.

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

clean

In addition to the idioms beginning with clean, also see come clean; have a clear (clean) conscience; keep one's nose clean; make a clean breast of; make a clean sweep; new broom sweeps clean; take to the cleaners; wipe the slate clean.