clean room

American  

noun

1. a room in which contaminants such as dust are reduced to a very low level by special procedures so that operations such as the manufacture and assembly of delicate equipment or the manipulation of biological materials can be performed effectively.

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clean room Scientific  

/ klēn /

1. A room that is maintained free of contaminants, such as dust or bacteria. Clean rooms are used in laboratory work and in the production of precision parts for electronic or aerospace equipment.

2. Also called white room

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Etymology

Origin of clean room

An Americanism dating back to 1960–65

Example Sentences

Micron is expected to bring two chip factories online in Idaho by the end of 2028, each with around 600,000 square feet of clean room capacity.

From Barron's • Mar. 16, 2026

“Previously, capacity was constrained by clean room space, but this limitation is being addressed through the acceleration of new clean rooms and the re-purposing of existing ones,” they added.

From MarketWatch • Jan. 5, 2026

Micron’s ability to increase supply is constrained by a lack of available clean room capacity, which is where memory is manufactured, they say.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 19, 2025

“Can I just get a clean room without having another fee thrown at me?” he said.

From Slate • Nov. 18, 2025

There was no sugarcoating the fact that Dad’s skills in the kitchen were the equivalent of mine at keeping a clean room.

From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas