laundry
Americannoun
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laundries
plural
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articles of clothing, linens, etc., that have been or are to be washed.
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a business establishment where clothes, linens, etc., are laundered.
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a room or area, as in a home or apartment building, reserved for doing the family wash.
noun
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a place where clothes and linen are washed and ironed
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the clothes or linen washed and ironed
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the act of laundering
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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.
See Examples For:
A marmoset monkey has been rescued by animal welfare officers after being found abandoned inside a laundry bag on a bus in north-west London.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
The garden level holds a media room, guest room, laundry room and a cedar-lined 636-bottle wine cellar carved from one of the home’s original eccentricities: a secret tunnel.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
In a demo, the robot was shaky and slow, with laundry getting stuck on its claw-like hands.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
I don’t care if it contains added MSG and holds a laundry list of seasonings you can’t pronounce.
From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2026
I was more amused by Mom’s insistence that the stray ten-dollar bill I found in the laundry room was money I had earned.
From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller
An apology is also expected in Northern Ireland, but not until after the completion of a public inquiry, following a 2021 report on mother and baby institutions, Magdalene laundries and workhouses.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
An apology is also expected in Northern Ireland but not until after a public inquiry has been carried out, following a recommendation from a 2021 report on mother and baby institutions, Magdalene laundries and workhouses.
From Barron's ● Jul. 2, 2026
Upon arrival he launched a tuna fish cannery, sold canned produce, opened a chain of laundries in the Coalinga area, and even spent some time wildcatting for oil.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2024
In an interview with The Associated Press, Wilson spoke about learning of these Magdalene laundries, her complex thoughts on religion and how Sinéad O’Connor left her mark on the project.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 19, 2024
Women agents who worked in the laundries passed the word.
From "George Washington, Spymaster" by Thomas B. Allen
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.
