Wiktionary

clean

See also: Clean

English

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 clean on Wikipedia

Etymology

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From Middle English clene, clane, from Old English clǣne (“clean, pure”), from Proto-West Germanic *klainī (“shining, fine, splendid, tender”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *glēy- (“gleaming”), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“to gleam”). Cognate with Scots clean (“absolute, pure, clear, empty”) and clene, clane (“clean”), North Frisian klien (“small”), West Frisian klien (“small”), klean (“clean”), Dutch klein (“small”), Low German kleen (“small”), German klein (“small”), Swedish klen (“weak, feeble, delicate”), Icelandic klénn (“poor, feeble, petty, snug, puny, cheesy, lame”).

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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clean (comparative cleaner, superlative cleanest)

  1. Free of dirt, filth, or impurities (extraneous matter); not dirty, filthy, or soiled.
    Are these dishes clean?
    Your room is finally clean!
    For a baby, happiness is a full bottle and a clean diaper.
    • 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter II, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC:
      Then his sallow face brightened, for the hall had been carefully furnished, and was very clean. There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls.
    • 1964, Coastal Engineering Research Center (U.S.), Technical Memorandum - U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Coastal Engineering Research Center, page 69:
      Very fine, well-sorted, clean sand with no shells.
    • 2020 June 2, Amy Woodyatt, “Scientists say they have found the cleanest air on Earth”, in CNN‎[1]:
      Scientists believe they have identified the world’s cleanest air, free from particles caused by human activity, located over the Southern Ocean, which surrounds Antarctica.
    1. (of metal) Having relatively few impurities.
      clean steel
  2. Free of contamination, (unwanted) germs, infection, or disease.
    Insert a clean swab into your nose.
    • 2023 October 14, HarryBlank, “Face Time”, in SCP Foundation‎[2], archived from the original on 23 May 2024:
      "Serious as cognitohazard." Lillihammer danced down the corridor towards them, doing little pirouettes and leaping from toe to toe. "Reuben Wirth no longer exists. Gonna have to get Forsythe to do that brain scan to make sure I'm clean, but otherwise yeah. Poof."
    1. Devoid of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
      I want to make sure my fiancé is clean before we are married.
  3. Free of imperfections, blemishes, or defects.
    1. (sports, for example, professional wrestling, slang) Of a victory or performance: without any blemishes such as submission holds, disqualification, interference, etc.
      Our team won, but it wasn't clean.
    2. (climbing, of a route) Ascended without falling.
    3. Free from that which is useless or injurious; without defects.
      clean land
      clean timber
    4. In an unmarked condition; blank.
      Put a clean sheet of paper into the printer.
  4. Free of immorality or criminality.
    1. Pure, especially morally or religiously.
      Our kids can watch this movie because it is clean.
    2. Not using drugs or alcohol.
      go clean
      I've been clean this time for eight months.
    3. Free from (or showing no signs of) corrupt, unlawful, and/or sinister conduct or connections (and (of criminal, driving, etc. records) therefore without restrictions or penalties).
      • 2009 May 26, John Earl Haynes, Harvey Klehr, Alexander Vassiliev, Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America, Yale University Press, →ISBN:
        It was my dream to be a Soviet spy. The vetting process started, and I was “clean”: no Jews in either my background or my wife's, no relatives abroad, already a member of the Soviet Communist Party, high marks on exams, three foreign languages, no dissident inclinations […]
      • 2016 April 5, Sylvia Day, One with You, St. Martin's Griffin, →ISBN:
        "If the Tramells hadn't passed away, we still wouldn't know. The background check was clean." "How can it be clean, for fuck's sake?" I knocked back the whiskey in one swallow. "Eva's mother used Monica's name, birthdate, and family history, but she never opened a line of credit, which is how most identity theft is discovered."
      Unlike you, I’ve never caused any accidents — my record is still clean!
    4. (informal) Not in possession of weapons or contraband such as drugs.
      I'm clean, officer. You can go ahead and search me if you want.
    5. (informal) Devoid of profanity.
  5. Free of infiltration by covert listening or recording devices (bugs), enemy spies, etc.
    We are currently clean on OPSEC.
    • 1989, Gayle Rivers, The Killing House, Jove Books, →ISBN:
      "[Are you sure the] room is clean?" "As a whistle. It's swept at irregular intervals every week." "That still leaves time to plant a bug […]"
  6. Empty.
    Synonyms: vacant, void; see also Thesaurus:empty
    The cargo hold is clean.
    Mister, I want to see a clean dinner plate or there'll be no dessert for you.
  7. Smooth, exact, and performed well.
    I'll need a sharper knife to make clean cuts.
    a clean leap over a fence
    a clean left-footed shot into the top corner of the goal
  8. That does not damage the environment (as much as some alternative).
    clean energy
    clean coal
    clean tourism
    • 2024 November 8, Luz Pena, “California's gas prices could have major increase with passing of new fuel standards”, in ABC7 News‎[4]:
      In a press release, CARB expanded on their decision. "The LCFS reduces air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions by setting a declining carbon intensity target for transportation fuels used in California; producers that don't meet established benchmarks buy credits from those that do. This system has generated $4 billion in annual private sector investment toward a cleaner transportation sector."
  9. (aerodynamics) Allowing an uninterrupted flow over surfaces, without protrusions such as racks or landing gear.
  10. (aviation) Having the undercarriage and flaps in the up position.
    Antonym: dirty
  11. Well-proportioned; shapely.
    clean limbs
  12. (informal) Cool or neat.
    Wow, dude, those are some clean shoes ya got there!
  13. Free from restraint; complete; entire; total; utter; pure.
    a clean sweep
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Leviticus 23:22:
      When ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of corners of thy field.
    • 2023 July 18, Arianne Shahvisi, Arguing for a Better World: How Philosophy Can Help Us Fight for Social Justice, Penguin, →ISBN, page 1:
      The clean thrill of getting the right answer gave me a sense of efficacy and rootedness. Even so, on tests at school I rarely got good grades, because I had a terrible habit of not showing my work.

Synonyms

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Antonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Noun

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clean (plural cleans)

  1. Removal of dirt.
    This place needs a clean.
    Give the pan a thorough clean.
  2. (weightlifting) The first part of the event clean and jerk in which the weight is brought from the ground to the shoulders.
  3. (in the plural, metal music) Clear vocals, contrasted with death growls and screams.
    • 2014, T/James Reagan, Leeds House, Amazon Digital Services LLC, →ISBN, page 314:
      When people complained the songs were too hard, Kyle's clean vocals could bail out the band. Adding cleans would set off a chain reaction though - Kyle's crisp, clear presence could be seen as "betraying" the raw assault that Mike inflicts on the fans with his screams and growls.
    • 2016, Jay Shields, “Tech Fest 2016”, in Fraser Mutch, editor, Elite Online Mag, number 78, page 155:
      Vocalist Kaan is impeccable in his performance engaging with the crowd and soulfully executing both searing screams and hauntingly melodic cleans.
    • 2023 April 17, Jake Richardson, “10 Best Clean Singers in Metalcore”, in Loudwire‎[5], archived from the original on 17 August 2024:
      The band's more recent output has seen a small amount of cleans find their way in, but for the most part, the Pennsylvania boys rely on the kind of devastating vocal delivery that can be heard on monumental career highlights such as "Marianas Trench."

Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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clean (third-person singular simple present cleans, present participle cleaning, simple past and past participle cleaned)

  1. (transitive) To remove dirt from a place or object.
    Can you clean the windows today?
  2. (transitive) To tidy up, make a place neat.
    Clean your room right now!
  3. (transitive, climbing) To remove equipment from a climbing route after it was previously lead climbed.
  4. (intransitive) To make things clean in general.
    She just likes to clean. That’s why I married her.
  5. (transitive, computing) To remove unnecessary files, etc. from (a directory, etc.).
  6. (intransitive, curling) To brush the ice lightly in front of a moving rock to remove any debris and ensure a correct line; less vigorous than a sweep.
  7. (manga fandom slang) To purge a raw of any blemishes caused by the scanning process such as brown tinting and poor color contrast.
  8. (video games) Synonym of clean up
  9. To remove guts and/or scales of a butchered animal.
    The fishmonger cleaned the mackerel.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Adverb

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clean (comparative cleaner, superlative cleanest)

  1. Fully and completely.
    He was stabbed clean through.
    You must be clean mad.
    The wave went clean over the old lighthouse.
    • 1655, James Howell, “To the Right Honourable the Earl of Clare”, in Epistolæ Ho-Elianæ. Familiar Letters Domestic and Forren. […], 3rd edition, volume (please specify the page), London: […] Humphrey Mos[e]ley, […], →OCLC:
      Moreover, I find there are some Words now in French which are turned to a Countersense […] Cocu is taken for one whose Wife is light, and hath made him a passive Cuckold; whereas clean contrary, Cocu, which is the Cuckow, doth use to lay her Eggs in another Bird's Nest.
    • 1897, Richard Marsh, The Beetle:
      So, since all my pains in his direction were clean thrown away, there was nothing left for me but to scurry back to Marjorie, — so I scurried, and I found the house empty, no one there, and Marjorie gone.
    • 1951 October, William B. Stocks, “A Few Miles from Huddersfield”, in Railway Magazine, page 701:
      A feat sometimes achieved by outstanding local athletes is to throw a cricket ball clean over the top [of the viaduct].
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 1, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
      The huge square box, parquet-floored and high-ceilinged, had been arranged to display a suite of bedroom furniture designed and made in the halcyon days of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, when modish taste was just due to go clean out of fashion for the best part of the next hundred years.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Anagrams

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Danish

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English clean.

Adjective

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clean (neuter clean, plural and definite singular attributive clean)

  1. drugfree, not having used recreational drugs

German

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English clean. Doublet of klein.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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clean (strong nominative masculine singular cleaner, comparative cleaner, superlative am cleansten)

  1. (colloquial) clean, drugfree
    • 1984 March 26, “99 Luftballons und das Chaos der Gefühle”, in Der Spiegel‎[6], number 13:
      Nenas Image ist so clean, daß ein paar Zeitschriften nun nach dunklen Punkten suchen und sie erfinden, weil nichts zu finden ist.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Declension

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Positive forms of clean
number & gender singular plural
masculine feminine neuter
predicative er ist clean sie ist clean es ist clean sie sind clean
strong declension
(without article) 		nominative cleaner cleane cleanes cleane
genitive cleanen cleaner cleanen cleaner
dative cleanem cleaner cleanem cleanen
accusative cleanen cleane cleanes cleane
weak declension
(with definite article) 		nominative der cleane die cleane das cleane die cleanen
genitive des cleanen der cleanen des cleanen der cleanen
dative dem cleanen der cleanen dem cleanen den cleanen
accusative den cleanen die cleane das cleane die cleanen
mixed declension
(with indefinite article) 		nominative ein cleaner eine cleane ein cleanes (keine) cleanen
genitive eines cleanen einer cleanen eines cleanen (keiner) cleanen
dative einem cleanen einer cleanen einem cleanen (keinen) cleanen
accusative einen cleanen eine cleane ein cleanes (keine) cleanen
Comparative forms of clean
number & gender singular plural
masculine feminine neuter
predicative er ist cleaner sie ist cleaner es ist cleaner sie sind cleaner
strong declension
(without article) 		nominative cleanerer cleanere cleaneres cleanere
genitive cleaneren cleanerer cleaneren cleanerer
dative cleanerem cleanerer cleanerem cleaneren
accusative cleaneren cleanere cleaneres cleanere
weak declension
(with definite article) 		nominative der cleanere die cleanere das cleanere die cleaneren
genitive des cleaneren der cleaneren des cleaneren der cleaneren
dative dem cleaneren der cleaneren dem cleaneren den cleaneren
accusative den cleaneren die cleanere das cleanere die cleaneren
mixed declension
(with indefinite article) 		nominative ein cleanerer eine cleanere ein cleaneres (keine) cleaneren
genitive eines cleaneren einer cleaneren eines cleaneren (keiner) cleaneren
dative einem cleaneren einer cleaneren einem cleaneren (keinen) cleaneren
accusative einen cleaneren eine cleanere ein cleaneres (keine) cleaneren
Superlative forms of clean
number & gender singular plural
masculine feminine neuter
predicative er ist am cleansten sie ist am cleansten es ist am cleansten sie sind am cleansten
strong declension
(without article) 		nominative cleanster cleanste cleanstes cleanste
genitive cleansten cleanster cleansten cleanster
dative cleanstem cleanster cleanstem cleansten
accusative cleansten cleanste cleanstes cleanste
weak declension
(with definite article) 		nominative der cleanste die cleanste das cleanste die cleansten
genitive des cleansten der cleansten des cleansten der cleansten
dative dem cleansten der cleansten dem cleansten den cleansten
accusative den cleansten die cleanste das cleanste die cleansten
mixed declension
(with indefinite article) 		nominative ein cleanster eine cleanste ein cleanstes (keine) cleansten
genitive eines cleansten einer cleansten eines cleansten (keiner) cleansten
dative einem cleansten einer cleansten einem cleansten (keinen) cleansten
accusative einen cleansten eine cleanste ein cleanstes (keine) cleansten

Further reading

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  • “clean” in Duden online
  • “clean” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Manx

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Etymology

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From Old Irish clíabán.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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clean m (genitive singular clean, plural cleanyn)

  1. cradle (oscillating bed for a baby)
    Ta dooinney ny ghaa leaystey clean nagh vel bentyn da hene.
    There’s a man or two rocking the cradle of another man’s child.
  2. cot
  3. cage (of birds)
  4. pannier

Mutation

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Mutation of clean
radical lenition eclipsis
clean chlean glean

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Manx.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Romanian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Bulgarian клян (kljan), from Proto-Slavic *klěnь.

Noun

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clean m (plural cleni)

  1. chub (Squalius cephalus)

Declension

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Declension of clean
singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative-accusative clean cleanul cleni clenii
genitive-dative clean cleanului cleni clenilor
vocative cleanule clenilor
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