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 power utility ComEd there urged, while calling on residents to delay using laundry, dishwashers and electric vehicle chargers until after dusk.
From Barron's ● Jul. 2, 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
MASON, Ohio—As the nation’s dominant purveyor of laundry detergent, Procter & Gamble PG -0.12%decrease; down pointing triangle knows full well that consumers have strong feelings about their wash.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026
Of course I wanted to, but the laundry basket was dead weight in my arms.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
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
In the remote towns of rural northwest California, Chinese immigrants toiled in redwood logging camps, laundries and restaurants.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2025
Former residents who spent time in the homes, or working in Magdalene laundries, are urged to register their interest in taking part before the deadline on 1 May.
From BBC ● Feb. 19, 2025
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
All kinds of businesses from hotels to laundries to humor magazines were using the horse’s likeness in their ads.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
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.
