noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of cleanser
before 1000; Middle English; Old English clǣnsere; see cleanse, -er 1
Explanation
A substance you use to scour, scrub, or wash something is a cleanser. Even if you sweep the kitchen floor every day, eventually you'll need to give it a deep clean with a mop and a cleanser. Cleanser and cleaner are very similar, and they can be swapped in usage. However, it's more common to save cleanser for the stuff used to do the cleaning, rather than the person who cleans. You might wash your face with a special cleanser every night, or sprinkle a powerful cleanser in the tub to get it extra clean. And a palate cleanser is something (like sorbet) that clears tastes from your mouth before you taste something else.
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:
Suzuki wagered schools would bring history classes to view “Fireflies,” a story where Something Happens, then stay to watch “Totoro” as a kind of palate cleanser.
From Salon ● Jul. 15, 2026
“San Marcos Theme” arrives midway as an aural palate cleanser before Price raises the energy another notch in the back half, the sequence that begins with the Charlie Daniels cover and ends with “Maggie’s Farm.”
From Salon ● Jul. 14, 2026
It's a charming palate cleanser after the familial drama of the album's final third.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
By the time you’re invited to nibble the pulp off seeds straight from a tamarind pod, a palate cleanser before dessert, you may have forgotten that the island you’re on is Manhattan.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026
The water is already clouding with a swirling murk of poisonous multipurpose cleanser.
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
Aesthetic and dermatology doctor Ross Perry thinks dupes are fine to use for "basic skincare" like moisturisers and cleansers.
From BBC ● Dec. 13, 2025
"These cleansers often just encourage that. They irritate the stomach lining and encourage mucosal shedding, and to the untrained eye, it looks like a parasite."
From Salon ● May 18, 2025
Look for moisturizers, sunscreens and cleansers labeled “oil free” or “noncomedogenic,” Ploch said, which won’t clog your pores.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 18, 2023
Non soap cleansers are often labeled with things like “non-soap,” “soap-free,” “sulfate-free,” or “pH neutral”.
From National Geographic ● Nov. 28, 2023
Sing for the gods of the oppressed, The cleansers of slums, The Christs of great Golgothas Mounded of old wrongs Hurting the people!
From The Piper and the Reed by Robert W. Norwood
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.
