clean up
Britishverb
-
to rid (something) of dirt, filth, or other impurities
-
to make (someone or something) orderly or presentable
-
(tr) to rid (a place) of undesirable people or conditions
the campaign against vice had cleaned up the city
-
informal (intr) to make a great profit
noun
-
-
the process of cleaning up or eliminating something
-
( as modifier )
a cleanup campaign
-
-
informal a great profit
-
Also, clean out . Make clean or orderly, as in She cleaned up the cellar after the flood , or Dad said he cleaned out the garage . [First half of 1800s]
-
Also, wash up . Wash or tidy oneself, as in Do I have time to clean up before dinner?
-
Settle or dispose of, as in He cleaned up all the bills that had arrived during his vacation .
-
Bring to a certain standard of order or morality, as in This script won't do; we'll have to clean up the language . Applied to personal behavior, it also is put as clean up one's act , as in He'll have to clean up his act and obey the rules . [c. 1900]
-
Succeed, especially financially, as in We had fantastic luck at the races and really cleaned up . [ Slang ; first half of 1800s]
-
Also, clean up on . Defeat or vanquish, kill, as in We're cleaning up all the other teams , or With enough ammunition we could clean up on this pocket of snipers . [ Slang ; mid-1800s]
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.
Increasingly, according to more than a dozen current and former StubHub employees interviewed by the Journal, the company’s customer-support operations don’t have enough resources to clean up the fallout when something goes wrong.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
The findings, published in Nature Communications, could contribute to future research into using bacteria to help clean up environments contaminated with uranium.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 9, 2026
Image processing to clean up the picture can take hours, days or even weeks, as scientists check and process the data.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
Over 500 personnel in protective gear have been posted on beaches to clean up the foul-smelling weeds.
From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026
“I know it’s a complex topic, and I’ll be sure to go over painstaking details at a later time, after we clean up the mess you made, but right now...”
From "Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky" by Kwame Mbalia
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.
