cleaning

American

[klee-ning] / ˈkli nɪŋ /

noun

an act or instance of making clean.

Give the house a good cleaning.
Slang. an overwhelming or complete defeat, financial loss, or failure.

Our team took a cleaning in yesterday's game.
Informal. killing.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

self-cleaning

adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

cleanings

plural

Etymology

Origin of cleaning

First recorded in 1655–75; clean + -ing ¹

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:

cleaning cleanings

“There’s no way that they are thoroughly cleaning each and every seat.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

New carpet, paint and deep cleaning cost money and time.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 14, 2026

We have been cleaning and studying this material ever since.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 13, 2026

Hynes also gives examples of changes on the recently nationalised Thameslink; investment in better cleaning, improving toilets and replacing unpopular upright "ironing-board" seats.

From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026

Mama now took care of everything—grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, washing our clothes, paying bills and tuition.

From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson

Across roughly 160 paid robot hours and nearly 100 cleanings, Tau’s early runs have spotlighted the unpredictability of operating human-shaped robots in the real world.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026

The toothbrush camera targets interdental cleaning, helping your teeth stay in pristine condition between dentist-office cleanings.

From Slate ● Sep. 14, 2026

While the researchers say it won’t replace traditional dental cleaning, it could be used along with such cleanings to keep gum-disease inflammation at bay.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026

In addition to toothpaste, researchers and the PerioTrap team have developed a gel used after professional dental cleanings to block harmful bacteria, support a healthy microbiome, and maintain gum health.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 13, 2026

Instead of counting on a clean reaction, I'll do frequent "hydrogen cleanings" with a small flame.

From "The Martian" by Andy Weir

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023