cleaning

Meanings

1. 1noununcountable

   The work of removing dirt and mess from a place or object, especially around the home or at work.

   Grammar: No plural and no a: do the cleaning, not do a cleaning.

   Patterns

   • do the cleaning
   • cleaning of something

   I do the cleaning on Saturday mornings.

   The office hires a firm for the cleaning.

   Spring cleaning took us the whole weekend.

2. 2noununcountable

   The process of removing errors, duplicates or unwanted material from information or a collection of items.

   Grammar: Used with a noun like data: data cleaning.

   Patterns

   • data cleaning

   Data cleaning took longer than the analysis itself.

   Careful cleaning of the survey results removed duplicate answers.

   The team spent a day on database cleaning.

Common combinations

spring cleaning

Spring cleaning cleared out the garage.

do the cleaning

Who will do the cleaning tonight?

deep cleaning

The kitchen needed a deep cleaning after the party.

cleaning products

Keep cleaning products away from children.

dry cleaning

I dropped the coat off for dry cleaning.

Synonyms and how they differ

housework

Housework includes cooking and laundry too, while cleaning is only about removing dirt.

tidying

Tidying means putting things in order, not necessarily making them clean.

washing

Washing usually involves water and a specific item, such as dishes or clothes.

Opposites

Word family

clean verb

To remove dirt from something.

cleaner noun

A person or product that cleans.

cleanliness noun

The state of being clean.

cleanse verb

To clean deeply, often skin or wounds.

Commonly confused: cleaning or cleansing?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “cleaning”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

Explore more words