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:
But the problems have continued into the weekend and one woman, who supports a prisoner, told BBC Scotland News that laundry was mounting up.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
"It's unbearable. We can't open the windows, even the oranges in the garden and the laundry hanging out to dry are covered in black dust."
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
There’s also an attached walk-in pantry, with a powder room, laundry facilities, an office area, a screened porch, and a sizable garage nearby.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 7, 2026
Alan Dorfman held an Etch A Sketch over a laundry tub, picked up a hacksaw and sawed the device in half, spilling silver powder everywhere.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
His mother had been leaving his laundry outside his door ever since the morning three months ago when she had stepped in a vat of papier-mache that was sitting in front of his dresser.
From "Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher" by Bruce Coville
The panel has also been investigating the "pathways and practices" to the institutions, laundries and workhouses.
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 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
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
There were groceries and herbal shops, clothing shops and laundries, halls that housed the brotherhoods or the district associations or the offices of family clans.
From "Dragonwings" by Laurence Yep
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.
