clean
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /kliːn/
ipa: [kʰl̥iːn]
enpr: klēn
ipa: /klin/
ipa: [kʰl̥ĩn]
enpr: klān
ipa: /kleːn/
ipa: [kʰl̥eːn]
note: Local Dublin
ipa: /kliːn/
note: Local Dublin
ipa: [kʰl̥iːn]
rhymes: -iːn
Forms: form: cleaner
form: cleanest
Etymology: From Middle English clene, clane, from Old English clǣne (“clean, pure”), from Proto-West Germanic *klainī (“shining, fine, splendid, tender”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *glēy- (“gleaming”), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“to gleam”). Cognate with Scots clean (“absolute, pure, clear, empty”) and clene, clane (“clean”), North Frisian klien (“small”), West Frisian klien (“small”), klean (“clean”), Dutch klein (“small”), Low German kleen (“small”), German klein (“small”), Swedish klen (“weak, feeble, delicate”), Icelandic klénn (“poor, feeble, petty, snug, puny, cheesy, lame”).
Senses: examples: text: Are these dishes clean?
 Your room is finally clean!
For a baby, happiness is a full bottle and a clean diaper.
text: Then his sallow face brightened, for the hall had been carefully furnished, and was very clean. There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls.
ref: 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter II, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC:
text: Very fine, well-sorted, clean sand with no shells.
ref: 1964, Coastal Engineering Research Center (U.S.), Technical Memorandum - U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Coastal Engineering Research Center, page 69:
text: Scientists believe they have identified the world’s cleanest air, free from particles caused by human activity, located over the Southern Ocean, which surrounds Antarctica.
ref: 2020 June 2, Amy Woodyatt, “Scientists say they have found the cleanest air on Earth”, in CNN:
glosses: Free of dirt, filth, or impurities (extraneous matter); not dirty, filthy, or soiled.
examples: text: clean steel
glosses: Free of dirt, filth, or impurities (extraneous matter); not dirty, filthy, or soiled.
Having relatively few impurities.
raw_tags: of metal
examples: text: Insert a clean swab into your nose.
text: "Serious as cognitohazard." Lillihammer danced down the corridor towards them, doing little pirouettes and leaping from toe to toe. "Reuben Wirth no longer exists. Gonna have to get Forsythe to do that brain scan to make sure I'm clean, but otherwise yeah. Poof."
ref: 2023 October 14, HarryBlank, “Face Time”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 23 May 2024:
glosses: Free of contamination, (unwanted) germs, infection, or disease.
examples: text: I want to make sure my fiancé is clean before we are married.
glosses: Free of contamination, (unwanted) germs, infection, or disease.
Devoid of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
examples: Our team won, but it wasn't clean.
topics: government
hobbies
lifestyle
martial-arts
military
politics
professional-wrestling
sports
war
wrestling
glosses: Free of imperfections, blemishes, or defects.
Of a victory or performance: without any blemishes such as submission holds, disqualification, interference, etc.
raw_tags: for example
topics: climbing
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: Free of imperfections, blemishes, or defects.
Ascended without falling.
raw_tags: of a route
examples: text: clean land
text: clean timber
glosses: Free of imperfections, blemishes, or defects.
Free from that which is useless or injurious; without defects.
examples: text: Put a clean sheet of paper into the printer.
glosses: Free of imperfections, blemishes, or defects.
In an unmarked condition; blank.
examples: text: Our kids can watch this movie because it is clean.
text: Create in me a clean heart, O God.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 51:10:
text: Ah! let me knot be fool'd, sweet saints. I trust / That I am whole, and clean, and meet for Heaven.
ref: 1833 (date written), Alfred Tennyson, “St. Simeon Stylites”, in Poems. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 63:
text: I do not think there is any member in this House who will not agree that that is the clean thing to do. Any member sitting on the Government benches will admit in private that that is the proper course for members who break faith.
ref: 1914, Parliamentary Debates, volume 168, New Zealand, page 195:
glosses: Free of immorality or criminality.
Pure, especially morally or religiously.
examples: text: go clean
text: I've been clean this time for eight months.
text: Ten months sober, I must admit
Just because you're clean, don't mean you don't miss it
Ten months older, I won't give in
Now that I'm clean, I'm never gonna risk it
ref: 2014 October 27, Taylor Swift, Imogen Heap, “Clean (Taylor's Version)”, in 1989 (Taylor's Version), performed by Taylor Swift, published 27 October 2023:
glosses: Free of immorality or criminality.
Not using drugs or alcohol.
examples: text: It was my dream to be a Soviet spy. The vetting process started, and I was “clean”: no Jews in either my background or my wife's, no relatives abroad, already a member of the Soviet Communist Party, high marks on exams, three foreign languages, no dissident inclinations[…]
ref: 2009 May 26, John Earl Haynes, Harvey Klehr, Alexander Vassiliev, Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America, Yale University Press, →ISBN:
text: "If the Tramells hadn't passed away, we still wouldn't know. The background check was clean." "How can it be clean, for fuck's sake?" I knocked back the whiskey in one swallow. "Eva's mother used Monica's name, birthdate, and family history, but she never opened a line of credit, which is how most identity theft is discovered."
ref: 2016 April 5, Sylvia Day, One with You, St. Martin's Griffin, →ISBN:
text: Unlike you, I’ve never caused any accidents — my record is still clean!
glosses: Free of immorality or criminality.
Free from (or showing no signs of) corrupt, unlawful, and/or sinister conduct or connections (and (of criminal, driving, etc. records) therefore without restrictions or penalties).
examples: text: I'm clean, officer. You can go ahead and search me if you want.
glosses: Free of immorality or criminality.
Not in possession of weapons or contraband such as drugs.
glosses: Free of immorality or criminality.
Devoid of profanity.
examples: text: We are currently clean on OPSEC.
text: "[Are you sure the] room is clean?" "As a whistle. It's swept at irregular intervals every week." "That still leaves time to plant a bug[…]"
ref: 1989, Gayle Rivers, The Killing House, Jove Books, →ISBN:
glosses: Free of infiltration by covert listening or recording devices (bugs), enemy spies, etc.
examples: text: The cargo hold is clean.
text: Mister, I want to see a clean dinner plate or there'll be no dessert for you.
synonyms: word: vacant
word: void
word: empty
word: empty as a pauper's purse
word: empty as the tomb on Easter
word: clean
word: leer
word: toom
word: unfilled
word: vacant
word: vacuumlike
word: vacuous
word: void
glosses: Empty.
examples: text: I'll need a sharper knife to make clean cuts.
text: a clean leap over a fence
text: a clean left-footed shot into the top corner of the goal
glosses: Smooth, exact, and performed well.
examples: text: clean energy
text: clean coal
text: clean tourism
text: In a press release, CARB expanded on their decision. "The LCFS reduces air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions by setting a declining carbon intensity target for transportation fuels used in California; producers that don't meet established benchmarks buy credits from those that do. This system has generated $4 billion in annual private sector investment toward a cleaner transportation sector."
ref: 2024 November 8, Luz Pena, “California's gas prices could have major increase with passing of new fuel standards”, in ABC7 News:
glosses: That does not damage the environment (as much as some alternative).
topics: aerodynamics
aerospace
business
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
glosses: Allowing an uninterrupted flow over surfaces, without protrusions such as racks or landing gear.
topics: aeronautics
aerospace
aviation
business
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
antonyms: dirty
glosses: Having the undercarriage and flaps in the up position.
examples: text: clean limbs
glosses: Well-proportioned; shapely.
examples: text: Wow, dude, those are some clean shoes ya got there!
glosses: Cool or neat.
examples: text: a clean sweep
text: When ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of corners of thy field.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Leviticus 23:22:
text: The clean thrill of getting the right answer gave me a sense of efficacy and rootedness. Even so, on tests at school I rarely got good grades, because I had a terrible habit of not showing my work.
ref: 2023 July 18, Arianne Shahvisi, Arguing for a Better World: How Philosophy Can Help Us Fight for Social Justice, Penguin, →ISBN, page 1:
glosses: Utter, complete, total; pure; free from restraint.
Synonyms: word: clean
word: clean as a whistle
word: immaculate
word: pristine
word: spick-and-span
word: spotless
word: squeaky clean
word: stainless
word: unsoiled
word: unsullied
Derived terms: a new broom sweeps clean
bioclean
broom-clean
certificate of clean criminal record
cleanaholic
clean as a bean
clean as a hound's tooth
clean as a new penny
clean as a new pin
clean as a whistle
clean bill of health
clean bomb
clean bowl
clean break
clean bulk
clean chit
clean coal
clean code
clean coder
clean copy
clean eating
clean electricity
clean fashion
clean feed
clean fill
clean float
cleanfluencer
clean freak
clean girl
clean-handed
clean hands
clean house
cleanish
clean language
clean-limbed
clean link
clean-living
cleanly
clean meat
clean money
cleanness
clean potato
clean power
clean price
cleanroom
clean room
clean-shaved
cleanshaven
clean sheet
clean shell
clean skin
cleanskin
clean slate
cleantech
clean teen
cleanth
clean-timbered
clean URL
come clean
eye-clean
hyperclean
keep one's nose clean
lick clean
make a clean breast
new brooms sweep clean
nonclean
overclean
show a clean pair of heels
squeaky clean
start with a clean sheet of paper
superclean
super-clean
ultraclean
unclean
wipe the slate clean
Related terms: word: pure
word: make clean