clean

clean
clean adj Clean, cleanly are often confused.
Clean is applied to a person or thing that is actually free from dirt; cleanly to a person or animal whose habit or tendency is to be clean; thus, one who is cleanly, though not always able to keep clean, will never remain dirty by choice
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an ant is a very cleanly insect— Addison

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Analogous words: cleaned, cleansed (see CLEAN vb): pure, decent, *chaste
Antonyms: dirty
Contrasted words: filthy, foul, nasty, squalid (see DIRTY)
clean vb Clean, cleanse mean to remove whatever soils, stains, or contaminates from someone or something.
Clean is the word in common and literal use for the removal of foreign matter (as dirt, litter, and debris) typically by washing, sweeping, dusting, or clearing away
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clean a dress

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{

clean a room

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clean off a table

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Cleanse in this relation seldom wholly loses some hint of its basic notion of making morally or spiritually pure; it is, therefore, the term of choice when the matter to be removed is or is felt as foul, polluting, or noxious or the action is rather one of purifying than of merely restoring to order, freshness, or neatness; thus, one would clean a house but, more often, cleanse a sickroom; one would cleanse a wound but clean one's teeth
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cleanse the bowels with a laxative

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Unlike clean, cleanse is common in essentially metaphoric extension in which it always retains the suggestion of removing what is vile, harmful, or obnoxious
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the brilliant campaign which cleansed Havana from yellow fever— S. H. Adams

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young soldiers who are now being cleansed of subversive ideas at Valley Forge Army Hospital— D. H. Gillis

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{

take part in an attempt to cleanse the public life of the country— Ewer

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{

the air was purer for the cleansing rain— Macdonald

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Antonyms: soil

New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.

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  • clean — clean …   Dictionnaire des rimes

  • clean — [klēn] adj. [ME clene < OE clæne, clean, pure < IE * ĝ(e)lēi < base * ĝel , to gleam > OIr gel, gleaming, white, OHG kleini, gleaming, bright, fine (> Ger klein, small)] 1. a) free from dirt, contamination, impurities, etc.;… …   English World dictionary

  • clean — ► ADJECTIVE 1) free from dirt, pollutants, or harmful substances. 2) morally pure: clean living. 3) not obscene. 4) attentive to personal hygiene. 5) showing or having no record of offences or crimes: a clean driving licence. 6) played or done… …   English terms dictionary

  • Clean — (kl[=e]n), a. [Compar. {Cleaner} (kl[=e]n [ e]r); superl. {Cleanest}.] [OE. clene, AS. cl[=ae]ne; akin to OHG. chleini pure, neat, graceful, small, G. klein small, and perh. to W. glan clean, pure, bright; all perh. from a primitive, meaning… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Clean — may refer to: Music The Clean, an influential first wave punk band Clean (album), an industrial album by Deitiphobia Clean , a song by Depeche Mode from their 1990 album Violator Clean, an amplifier sound in guitar terminology Clean, an Edwin… …   Wikipedia

  • clean — clean; clean·a·bil·i·ty; clean·a·ble; clean·li·ly; clean·li·ness; clean·ness; house·clean; re·clean; un·clean; un·clean·li·ness; bio·clean; un·clean·ly; un·clean·ness; …   English syllables

  • Clean — «Clean» Canción de Depeche Mode Álbum Violator Publicación 19 de marzo de 1990 Grabación …   Wikipedia Español

  • clean — [ klin ] adj. inv. • 1978; mot angl. « propre » ♦ Anglic. fam. 1 ♦ Qui a un air propre, soigné. Une allure, un look clean. Un intérieur clean. 2 ♦ Qui est sain, net moralement. Spécialt Qui ne prend pas de drogue. Être clean (opposé à speedé) . ● …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Clean — Семантика: функциональный Автор(ы) …   Википедия

  • clean-up — (v.), clean up (adj.),or cleanup (n.) (1) An informal phrase used by lenders to describe a provision in loan documents, usually the promissory notes used for lines of credit. The clean up provision requires that the loan balance outstanding under …   Financial and business terms

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