adverb
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in a fair manner
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easily or smoothly
the screw went into the wood cleanly
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of cleanly
before 900; Middle English clenlich ( e ), Old English clǣnlīc, equivalent to clǣne clean + -līc -ly
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.
None of this happened exactly in sequence, but the book ties it together cleanly and accurately.
From Salon • Jun. 9, 2026
In a first-of-its-kind large-scale study, scientists created giant fire whirls, spinning columns of flame that resemble fire tornadoes, and found they burn oil faster and more cleanly than conventional methods.
From Science Daily • Jun. 5, 2026
His motives couldn’t be more cleanly illustrated by a PowerPoint presentation.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 1, 2026
"It is a little bit of a concern. If you think about where Heather was a year ago, she was striking the ball so cleanly."
From BBC • May 28, 2026
Across the racecourse, in lanes one and two, the Germans and Italians pulled off the line cleanly and moved briskly to the front of the field.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
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.
