noun
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an electrically operated machine for washing, rinsing, and drying dishes, cutlery, etc
-
a person who washes dishes, etc
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of dishwasher
Explanation
If you work as a dishwasher, your job involves cleaning the glasses, plates, bowls, and silverware at a restaurant or cafe. You're also a dishwasher if you volunteer to wash the dishes after dinner at home. Some dishwashers scrub pots, pans, and dishes by hand, while others simply load up the other kind of dishwasher — a machine that automatically cleans dishes. While a human dishwasher has to scrub to get the dishes clean, a mechanical dishwasher sprays extremely hot water to do the same job. This new and improved type of dishwasher was invented in the late 19th century.
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:
Most decibel charts consider that moderate noise, somewhere between steady rainfall and a dishwasher.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
I like to save on time and kitchen clean-up because I don’t have a dishwasher, so store-bought is my preferred option.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026
They are used in electronics like your iPhone, helping you seamlessly switch between apps, or in your dishwasher when it recalls the appropriate cycles to run.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 3, 2026
But training them to safely perform household tasks like ironing or stacking the dishwasher is proving difficult and costly.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
I can’t remember if we loaded the dinner plates into the dishwasher.
From "Internment" by Samira Ahmed
Running washing machines and dishwashers with full loads.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
And Chad Jasinski, a Saddle River, N.J., automation consultant, believes that robot-like assistance in the kitchen, which might fill refrigerators, empty dishwashers and even prepare food “is a totally doable reality” by 2050.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
Cooks, dishwashers, bartenders, and others are represented by Unite Here.
From Barron's ● Jun. 6, 2026
Legends’ most recent proposal calls for wage freezes for some workers and a 25-cent hourly increase for cooks and dishwashers, the union said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 2, 2026
The ship could always use dishwashers or laundresses, she had heard, and so she would work her way to San Francisco where Amy, her pen pal, lived.
From "Julie of the Wolves" by Jean Craighead George
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.
