Meaning & use
cleanout
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Meanings
nouncountable
A thorough tidying in which you remove unwanted items from a place.
Grammar: Countable: do a cleanout, a garage cleanout.
Patterns
- do a cleanout of something
- a cleanout of something
We did a big cleanout of the garage this weekend.
Her closet cleanout produced three bags of clothes for charity.
The office is due for a cleanout before the move.
nouncountabletechnical
An opening in a pipe or chimney that lets you reach inside to remove blockages or dirt.
Grammar: Countable plumbing term: open the cleanout.
Patterns
- open the cleanout
- cleanout in something
The plumber unscrewed the cleanout to reach the clog.
There is a cleanout at the base of the chimney.
Word forms
| plural | cleanouts |
|---|
Common combinations
- garage cleanout
- The garage cleanout took us all day.
- spring cleanout
- We do a spring cleanout every year.
- do a cleanout
- It's time to do a cleanout of the basement.
- closet cleanout
- Her closet cleanout turned up clothes she'd forgotten.
- drain cleanout
- The drain cleanout is behind the house.
Synonyms and how they differ
- clear-out
- Clear-out is the usual British spelling and wording for the same tidying task.
- declutter
- Declutter stresses getting rid of mess and excess, while cleanout stresses emptying a space.
- purge
- Purge is stronger and suggests removing a lot, often ruthlessly, from a collection.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: cleanout or clean out?
cleanout vs clean out
Clean out is the verb phrase (we clean out the shed), while cleanout is the noun (we did a cleanout).
Practice
The basement was full of old boxes, so we planned a weekend _____ to get rid of them.
Choose one answer.
A cleanout is a thorough clearing of unwanted items. A cleaner is a person or product, and cleansing is not used for a household task.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “cleanout”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.