laundry
Americannoun
plural
laundries-
articles of clothing, linens, etc., that have been or are to be washed.
-
a business establishment where clothes, linens, etc., are laundered.
-
a room or area, as in a home or apartment building, reserved for doing the family wash.
noun
-
a place where clothes and linen are washed and ironed
-
the clothes or linen washed and ironed
-
the act of laundering
Etymology
Origin of laundry
1350–1400; Middle English lavandrie < Middle French lavanderie. See launder, -y 3
Explanation
Laundry refers to the clothes and bedding that you can wash in your washing machine or at the laundromat. Nothing smells quite as good as clean laundry. When you do your laundry, you wash your dirty clothes, as well as any towels, sheets, and other linens that could use a wash too. A laundry room is the place in an apartment building, business, or dormitory where there are washers and dryers. Sometimes people send their laundry out to a commercial laundry, where they pay someone else to wash their things. Laundry has a Latin root, lavare, "to wash."
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.
His son’s medical expenses are never far from Harden’s mind, along with an ever-growing laundry list of concerns.
From Salon • May 15, 2026
Prosecutors said they found a phone hidden in a laundry basket and another in a box of sanitary pads.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 10, 2026
The basement “includes laundry facilities” and ample storage space.
From MarketWatch • May 6, 2026
The maker of Tide laundry detergent and Bounty paper towels logged higher profit and sales in the fiscal third quarter, while cautioning it expects fiscal-year earnings to fall at the low end of its outlook.
From Barron's • Apr. 24, 2026
A clatter of hooves and wagon wheels drawing up to the side of the house snapped her attention back to my laundry, and she finished transferring it into her basket.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
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.
