Meaning & use
house clearance
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable or uncountableBritish
The process of emptying a house of all its furniture and belongings, often before selling or renting it.
Grammar: Can be countable (a house clearance) or uncountable (house clearance as a service).
Patterns
- a house clearance
- house clearance service
- do a house clearance
After the funeral, the family arranged a house clearance.
The company offers house clearance and rubbish removal.
We need to do a house clearance before the new tenants move in.
nouncountableBritish
A business or service that removes unwanted items from a home.
Grammar: Often used in the phrase 'a house clearance company'.
Patterns
- house clearance company
- house clearance service
She hired a house clearance company to empty her mother's flat.
The house clearance service took away old furniture and appliances.
Word forms
| plural | house clearances |
|---|
Common combinations
- house clearance sale
- They held a house clearance sale to get rid of everything.
- professional house clearance
- Professional house clearance can save you a lot of time and effort.
- house clearance specialist
- The house clearance specialist arrived with a large van.
- after a house clearance
- The house looked empty after the house clearance.
Synonyms and how they differ
- estate cleanout
- More common in American English, especially when clearing a house after someone has died.
- property clearance
- A broader term that can include commercial buildings, not just houses.
Word family
Commonly confused: house clearance or clearance?
house clearance vs clearance
On its own, 'clearance' can mean many things (e.g., permission, a sale, space); 'house clearance' specifically means emptying a house.
Practice
What does 'house clearance' typically involve?
Choose one answer.
The correct answer is B: house clearance means emptying a house of its contents. An is wrong because it is about construction. C is too narrow (just windows). D is about decoration, not clearing out items.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “house clearance”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.