Meaning & use
clearing
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Meanings
nouncountable
A patch of open ground in a wood or forest where there are no trees.
Grammar: Countable: we found a clearing; two small clearings.
Patterns
- a clearing in something
- a clearing in the woods
We stopped for lunch in a sunny clearing in the pine forest.
The deer stepped out into the clearing at dusk.
A narrow path led to a clearing where someone had built a fire ring.
noununcountablefinance
The process by which payments, such as cheques or card transactions, are checked and settled between banks before the money reaches the receiver.
Grammar: Uncountable and often used before another noun: clearing time, a clearing bank.
Patterns
- clearing of something
- a clearing house
Check clearing can take several days if the banks are in different countries.
The clearing of the trade was delayed by a technical fault.
A central clearing house reduces the risk that one party fails to pay.
noununcountableBritish
In Britain, a system in which universities offer unfilled course places to applicants after the main results come out.
Grammar: Usually used without an article and often after through or in: she got a place through clearing.
Patterns
- get a place through clearing
- go into clearing
She missed her grade and had to go through clearing to find a course.
Many good universities still have places available in clearing.
He phoned three departments on results day during clearing.
Word forms
| plural | clearings |
|---|
Common combinations
- a clearing in the woods
- They pitched the tent in a clearing in the woods.
- forest clearing
- A forest clearing is a good place to watch for birds.
- a small clearing
- A small clearing opened up ahead of the hikers.
- clearing house
- The clearing house matches buyers and sellers each evening.
- cheque clearing
- Cheque clearing is now much faster than it used to be.
- through clearing
- He found a place through clearing after a disappointing exam.
Synonyms and how they differ
- glade
- Glade is more poetic and suggests a pleasant, grassy opening, while clearing is a plain, everyday word for any open space among trees.
- opening
- Opening is much more general and can describe a gap in anything, whereas clearing is tied to woodland.
- settlement
- In finance, settlement names the final transfer of money, whereas clearing is the checking and matching step that comes before it.
Word family
Commonly confused: clearing or clearance?
clearing vs clearance
Clearance is the act of removing something or official permission, and also a gap or sale; it is not an open space in a forest.
Practice
Which sentence uses clearing in its woodland sense?
Choose one answer.
A clearing among trees is an open patch of ground. The first option is the finance sense, the second is the British university sense, and clearing the table would normally be clearing up or the clearing of.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “clearing”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.