vacuum cleaner

American

noun

an electrical appliance for cleaning carpets, floors, etc., by suction.

vacuum cleaner British

noun

an electrical household appliance used for cleaning floors, carpets, furniture, etc, by suction

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

vacuum cleaning

noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

vacuum cleaners

plural

Etymology

Origin of vacuum cleaner

First recorded in 1900–05

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:

vacuum cleaner

Moulding their own plastic and automated robotic production sucks power like, well a vacuum cleaner.

From BBC ● May 18, 2026

Could this year’s hottest Valentine’s Day gift be…a vacuum cleaner?

From MarketWatch ● Feb. 13, 2026

A possessed vacuum cleaner sparks a revolution in “A Useful Ghost,” a satire that’s “Brazil” by way of Bangkok.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 4, 2026

She purchased with her partner a Dyson vacuum cleaner on sale and bought two pairs of Levi’s jeans.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 21, 2026

At her order, I fetched the vacuum cleaner for her and she ran it underneath the window to make certain she got the tiniest shards, this so the cats wouldn’t get them in their paws.

From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023