cleanse
Americanverb (used with object)
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cleanses,
present (3rd person singular)
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cleansed,
past participle, past
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cleansing
present participle
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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)
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cleanses,
present (3rd person singular)
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cleansed,
past participle, past
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cleansing
present participle
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
Lopez: You need to cleanse every once in a while.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 16, 2025
Why must he, the blameless one, wash away his sins and endeavor to cleanse himself anew each day?
From "Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse
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
Bertollini said she is skeptical of cleanses marketed for large numbers of people that are used in a “preventative” way without confirming that they have a parasite in the first place.
From Salon ● May 18, 2025
I explore “Why not both?’” since water cleanses us — not just physically but spiritually, emotionally and mentally.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 13, 2025
The truth swells larger than the tub walls can hold, cleanses me more than the water and bubbles ever can.
From "Like Vanessa" by Tami Charles
“Could the political parties ever be cleansed of corruption? What place would African Americans have in American society? Would Native Americans survive at all, and at what cost to their embattled cultures?”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026
“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
The entire location had been cleansed of any evidence within hours of this horrible event taking place.
From BBC ● Nov. 12, 2024
Beatrice had already cleansed her stepbrother’s arm with soda water, so Roy lathered antibiotic ointment on a panel of gauze and taped it firmly around the boy’s arm.
From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen
"Outdoor swimming feels mentally and physically cleansing," Hickman, a keen swimmer herself, says.
From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2026
The new site will be the company’s global center for skin care and cleansing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
Earlier work by the team showed that corona discharges could be a significant source of these atmospheric cleansing agents within forest canopies.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 21, 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
“This habit probably originated in the females carefully licking their puppies—the dearest object of their love—for the sake of cleansing them... .Thus, the habit will have become associated with the emotion of love.”
From "Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith" by Deborah Heiligman
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.
