laundry
Americannoun
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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:
"Raise your thermostat as high as is comfortably safe," the company urged, while calling on residents to delay using laundry, dishwashers and electric vehicle chargers until after 8:00 pm.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
Doing laundry, cleaning the tub, getting your upper lip waxed at a nearby salon — these are all chores that fall into this category.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
A new California law will narrow the laundry list of food date labels on products to two, eliminating consumer confusion and halting the unintentional food waste that has resulted.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026
For many Americans, the smell they associate with clean laundry is the smell of Tide.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026
He stepped over the laundry and closed the door behind him.
From "Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher" by Bruce Coville
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
The job sites expected to be most affected include industrial warehouses, commercial laundries, manufacturing facilities and restaurant kitchens.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 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
For example, housing zones for singles need multiple public spaces to enable interactions, from shared laundries to shared meeting spaces.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 20, 2023
Suddenly, British customers were giving the laundries in Philadelphia rush orders to deliver clothing “finished or unfinished.”
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.
