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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recleanseverb (used with object)
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cleansableadjective
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uncleansableadjective
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uncleansedadjective
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well-cleansedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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cleansesimple
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cleansessimple
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have cleansedperfect
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has cleansedperfect
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am cleansingprogressive
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are cleansingprogressive
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is cleansingprogressive
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have been cleansingperfect progressive
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has been cleansingperfect progressive
Past
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cleansedsimple
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had cleansedperfect
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was cleansingprogressive
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were cleansingprogressive
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had been cleansingperfect progressive
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
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The author also contends that recessions don’t cleanse or restructure economies, the way wildfires clear forests of their dead wood.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
“No power, no justification, and no time can cleanse this great tragedy.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 13, 2026
"For the rivers within us flow with ease, fears washed away, cleanse and purify. Come to peace with our tears and discover what it means to be alive," she says.
From BBC ● Jan. 9, 2026
It’s a feel-good story that helps cleanse the palate weeks after another viral incident took place in the stands at a game between the Philadelphia Phillies and Miami Marlins in Florida.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2025
“We’ll give thee a good bath and cleanse thy humor. Who knows? Mayhap we can teach thee to swim!”
From "The Door in the Wall" by Marguerite de Angeli
It was just out of earshot from Oz nodding along to musings on how “sleep is when the brain cleanses itself.”
From Slate ● Jul. 1, 2026
After a warm and ice-cold shower, he cleanses his face and rubs a frozen cucumber over it, which he says will reduce puffiness, acne and brighten his skin.
From BBC ● Mar. 14, 2026
To try and find a solution, he started researching his symptoms online, where he came across a forum of people reporting their experiences with parasite cleanses.
From Salon ● May 18, 2025
Hindus believe taking a dip in the sacred waters cleanses people of sins.
From BBC ● Jan. 13, 2025
“A shield that repels germs while it gently cleanses your pores, leaving a spanking-clean exterior.”
From "Ida B" by Katherine Hannigan
Thus cleansed of expectation, you move through a series of smaller, even intimate spaces in which you are given free access to a literal universe of biological data.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2026
She feels cleansed by the sea and the fog that shrouds the world’s ugliness, and believes there is happiness to be salvaged from the wreckage of her past.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 14, 2025
“That cleansed the space of a lot of weaker companies,” he says.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 3, 2025
The purpose of earthly life for a good 16th-century Christian was to prepare for life with God in heaven, their soul cleansed of mortal sin.
From Salon ● Mar. 23, 2025
He wiped his face with his hands and felt the lesions fade, as if they had been cleansed away.
From "Messenger" by Lois Lowry
The new site will be the company’s global center for skin care and cleansing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
Blankfein added that the long period without a financial crisis cleansing process meant ”you accumulate tinder on the floor of the forest and eventually a spark will come.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 26, 2026
It’s cathartic and cleansing, and sometimes I see dolphins.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 20, 2026
Dr. Ilko argues that Guglielmo's reputation as a dragon slayer came from his role in cleansing the environment and restoring the valley's productivity.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 2, 2026
This is the drought before the cleansing rain, as my mother would say—the storm cloud before the sun.
From "American Street" by Ibi Zoboi
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.
