clearinghouse

American  

[kleer-ing-hous] / ˈklɪər ɪŋˌhaʊs /

Or clearing house

noun

• clearinghouses
  plural

1. a place or institution where mutual claims and accounts are settled, as between banks.

2. a central institution or agency for the collection, maintenance, and distribution of materials, information, etc.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• clearinghouses
  plural

Etymology

Origin of clearinghouse

First recorded in 1825–35

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

clearinghouse clearinghouses

“Widow’s Bay” is this season’s sleeper hit because the show is a horror trope clearinghouse.

From Salon ● Jun. 18, 2026

As of last month, according to Yahoo Sports, more than $125 million worth of NIL compensation that had been promised to athletes had been rejected by the clearinghouse or was still under review.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 10, 2026

The U.S.’s biggest rival has long served as a clearinghouse for American and European-made components that could be diverted to drone factories in Iran and Russia, according to the former Treasury officials.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 6, 2026

There is no central clearinghouse or share registry, creating dangerous bilateral risk.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 27, 2026

The Line Superintendent said that he would be able to get in touch with the crews in the morning; he suggested the rural telephone supervisor, who was a clearinghouse of information for miles around...

From "The Incredible Journey" by Sheila Burnford

You lend to the clearinghouses whatever you need, and we’re going to back you’,” he told an oral history project at the University of California, Berkeley.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026

The clearinghouses hold the collateral on each side of a contract, transferring risk from trading parties to the clearinghouse itself.

From Barron's ● Mar. 24, 2026

HIPAA, a federal law that protects the privacy and security of patient health information, only applies to “covered entities” — i.e., healthcare providers, insurers and clearinghouses — and their business associates.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 21, 2025

Institute’s Systemic Risk Council, which she founded, has warned that clearinghouses could quickly flip from “being risk absorbers to being systemic-risk transmitters and amplifiers,” and are “one of the biggest gaps” in the system.

From New York Times ● May 9, 2023

Thus, clearinghouses and other collectives comprise one option that has succeeded in providing for use of a work.

From Library of Congress Workshop on Etexts by Library of Congress