Clean

Pronunciation

• enPR: klÄ“n, IPA: /kliːn/
• Rhymes: -iːn

Origin

From Middle English clene, clane, from Old English clǣne ("clean, pure, chaste, innocent, unencumbered, unfettered, hallowed, clear, open, honorable, true, acute, sagacious, intellectual"), from Proto-Germanic *klainiz ("shining, fine, splendid, tender"), from Proto-Indo-European *g(e)lēi- ("gleaming"), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- ("to gleam"). Cognate with Scots clean ("absolute, pure, clear, empty") and clene, clane ("clean"), North Frisian klien ("small"), Dutch klein ("small"), Low German kleen ("small"), German klein ("small"), Swedish klen ("weak, feeble, delicate"), Icelandic klénn ("poor, feeble, petty, snug, puny, cheesy, lame"). Displaced Old English sȳfre ("clean, sober"), hlūtor ("pure, clear, clean, bright").

Full definition of clean

Adjective

1. Not dirty.Are these dishes clean?Your room is finally clean!
2. In an unmarked condition.Put a clean sheet of paper into the printer.
3. Pure, especially morally or religiously.Our kids can watch this movie because it is clean.
• Bible, Psalms li. 10Create in me a clean heart, O God.
• TennysonThat I am whole, and clean, and meet for Heaven.
4. Not having used drugs or alcohol.I've been clean this time for eight months.
5. Smooth, exact, and performed well.I’ll need a sharper knife to make clean cuts.a clean leap over a fence
6. (of criminal, driving, etc records) without restrictions or penalties, or someone having such a record.Unlike you, I’ve never caused any accidents — my record is still clean!
7. (informal) Cool or neat.Damn, Shorty, those are some clean shoes ya got there!
8. (aerodynamics) Allowing an uninterrupted flow over surfaces, without protrusions such as racks or landing gear.
9. (health) Being free of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).I want to make sure my fiancé is clean before we are married.
10. (informal) Not in possession of weapons or contraband such as drugs.I’m clean, officer. You can go ahead and search me if you want.
11. Empty.''The cargo hold is clean.Mister, I want to see a clean dinner plate or there'll be no dessert for you.
12. (of metal) Having relatively few impurities.clean steel
13. which doesn’t damage the environment
    Clean energy.
    Clean coal.
14. Free from that which is useless or injurious; without defects.clean land; clean timber
15. Free from restraint or neglect; complete; entire.
• Bible, Le. xxiii. 22When ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of corners of thy field.
16. Well-proportioned; shapely.clean limbs

Synonyms

• (not dirty)
• (empty)

Antonyms

• dirty
• unclean

Derived terms

Noun

1. Removal of dirt.This place needs a clean.
2. (weightlifting) The first part of the event clean and jerk in which the weight is brought from the ground to the shoulders.

Verb

1. (transitive) To remove dirt from a place or object.Can you clean the windows today?
2. (transitive) To tidy up, make a place neat.Clean your room right now!
3. (transitive, climbing) To remove equipment from a climbing route after it was previously lead climbed.
4. (intransitive) To make things clean in general.She just likes to clean. That’s why I married her.
5. (intransitive, curling) To brush the ice lightly in front of a moving rock to remove any debris and ensure a correct line; less vigorous than a sweep.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Adverb

1. Fully and completely.
• 1963, Margery Allingham, The China Governess Chapter 1, The huge square box, parquet-floored and high-ceilinged, had been arranged to display a suite of bedroom furniture designed and made in the halcyon days of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, when modish taste was just due to go clean out of fashion for the best part of the next hundred years.
2. He was stabbed clean through.
   You must be clean mad.

Anagrams

• ancle, clane, Lance, lance