cleanse
Americanverb (used with object)
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to make clean.
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to remove by or as if by cleaning.
to cleanse sin from the soul.
verb (used without object)
verb
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to remove dirt, filth, etc, from
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to remove guilt from
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to remove a group of people from (an area) by means of ethnic cleansing
Synonym Usage
See clean.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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uncleansedadjective
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recleanseverb (used with object)
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uncleansableadjective
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cleansableadjective
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well-cleansedadjective
Conjugated Forms
Present
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has cleansedperfect 3rd person singular
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have cleansedperfect
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is cleansingprogressive 3rd person singular
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am cleansingprogressive 1st person singular
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have been cleansingperfect progressive
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are cleansingprogressive
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cleansessingular 3rd person
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has been cleansingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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cleansingparticiple
Past
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had cleansedperfect
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was cleansingprogressive singular
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were cleansingprogressive plural
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had been cleansingperfect progressive
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cleansedsimple
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cleansedparticiple
Future
Etymology
Origin of cleanse
before 900; Middle English clensen, Old English clǣnsian, equivalent to clǣne clean + -si- v. suffix + -an infinitive suffix
Vocabulary lists containing cleanse
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
