housecleaning

American  

[hous-klee-ning] / ˈhaʊsˌkli nɪŋ /

noun

1. the act of cleaning cleaning a house, room, etc., and its furnishings, especially the act of cleaning cleaning thoroughly and completely.

2. the act of improving or reforming by weeding out excess or corrupt personnel or of revising methods of operation.

---

Etymology

Origin of housecleaning

First recorded in 1860–65; house + cleaning

Example Sentences

This wasn’t a major housecleaning but more like a culling of online subscriptions.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 2, 2026

Irregular labor like yard work or housecleaning is their only way of making a living.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 27, 2024

The housecleaning could delay processing the income statements because the financial team had been reshuffled, the source said, adding "with some firings, rediscovering the past gets even more complicated."

From Reuters • Jun. 22, 2023

Organizations on the left and right created a critical mass for a housecleaning, and in 1938 Shaw was recalled, the nation’s first recall of a big-city mayor.

From Los Angeles Times • May 30, 2023

Sometimes the photos did not sell—a project Mia did with skeletal leaves sold only one, and for several months she took up a series of odd jobs: housecleaning, flower arranging, cake decorating.

From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng