laundry
Americannoun
plural
laundries-
articles of clothing, linens, etc., that have been or are to be washed.
-
a business establishment where clothes, linens, etc., are laundered.
-
a room or area, as in a home or apartment building, reserved for doing the family wash.
noun
-
a place where clothes and linen are washed and ironed
-
the clothes or linen washed and ironed
-
the act of laundering
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.
His son’s medical expenses are never far from Harden’s mind, along with an ever-growing laundry list of concerns.
From Salon • May 15, 2026
Sure, it’s easier to load and unload the dishwasher and put away the laundry yourself, but we miss the opportunity if we don’t bring the next generation into the labor.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 8, 2026
On Wednesday, kitchen and laundry stalwart Whirlpool suspended its $90-cents-a-share quarterly dividend, after reporting a difficult quarter thanks to what executives called a recession-level industry decline.
From Barron's • May 8, 2026
The basement “includes laundry facilities” and ample storage space.
From MarketWatch • May 6, 2026
After she handed over my packets of clean laundry, I asked her if James was home, and she told me he was out back.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
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.
