cleanse
/klɛnz/
cleanse verb: to free from dirt; to clean, to purify.
Verb
cleanse (third-person singular simple present cleanses, present participle cleansing, simple past and past participle cleansed)
- To free from dirt; to clean, to purify.
- An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic the way real kidneys cleanse blood and eject impurities and surplus water as urine.2013 June 1, “A better waterworks”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 5 (Technology Quarterly)
- Synonyms:
- deterge
- To spiritually purify; to free from guilt or sin; to purge.
- [T]he famous Ganges: whoſe vnknowne head, pleaſant ſtreames, and long extent, haue amongſt thoſe Heathen Inhabitants, (by the Tradition of their Forefathers) gained a beliefe of clenſing all ſuch ſinnes, as the bodies of thoſe that waſh therein brought with them: [...]1626, William Methold [i.e., William Methwold], “Relations of the Kingdome of Golchonda, and Other Neighbouring Nations within the Gulfe of Bengala, Arreccan, Pegu, Tennassery, &c. […]”, in [Samuel]...
- To remove (something seen as unpleasant) from a person, place, or thing.
Noun
cleanse (countable and uncountable, plural cleanses)
- An act of cleansing; a purification.
- I regularly visit the spa for a massage and a facial cleanse.
- Synonyms:
- cleansing
cleanse meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
cleanse in Hindi
- to cleanse, purify
- शोधना śodhnā
- to cleanse
- धोना dhonā
cleanse in Tamil
- தூய்மைப்படுத்து
cleanse in Marathi
- साफसफाई करण्यासाठी
cleanse in Urdu
- to cleanse
- دھونا dhonā
More languagesFewer languages
- cleanse in Bengali
- পরিষ্কার করা
- cleanse in Malayalam
- തുടച്ചുവെടിപ്പാക്കുക, ശുചീകരിക്കുക, വൃത്തിവരുത്തുക, കഴുകുക
- cleanse in Kannada
- ಚೊಕ್ಕಟಗೊಳಿಸು, ಮಡಿಮಾಡು, ನಲ್ಗೆಯ್, ಸ್ವಚ್ಛಗೊಳಿಸು
- cleanse in Punjabi
- ਸਾਫ਼ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ, ਸਫ਼ਾਈ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ
- cleanse in Odia
- ଶୁଧାଇବା śudhāibā
- cleanse in Sanskrit
- क्षिपति kṣipati, पवयति pavayati
- cleanse in Assamese
- সুঝা xuzha, ধোৱা dhüa
- cleanse in Nepali
- सफा गर्न
- cleanse in Thai
- ชำระ cham-rá, ล้าง láang
Examples of cleanse in a sentence
- The infested house needs a thorough cleansing before being inhabitable again.
- Anyone with an unsubverted or cleansed frame of reference likely couldn't bear seeing such mistreatment and violence.
- Apply the cleansing cream to your skin.
Synonyms of cleanse
Forms of cleanse
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | cleanses |
| present participle | cleansing |
| past participle | cleansed |
| past | cleansed |
| Noun | |
| plural | cleanses |
Origin of cleanse
From Middle English clensen, from Old English clǣnsian, from Proto-West Germanic *klainisōn, from Proto-West Germanic *klainī (“clean”). Cognate with West Frisian klinzgje (“to clean, cleanse”), archaic Dutch kleinzen (“to clean, purify”), Middle Low German klênsen, kleinsen, clensen (“to purify”).
Words formed from cleanse
Words that rhyme with cleanse
Questions about cleanse
- What does cleanse mean?
- Cleanse means to free from dirt; to clean, to purify.
- What is cleanse in Hindi?
- Cleanse in Hindi is शोधना (śodhnā), धोना (dhonā). See Cleanse meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is cleanse?
- Cleanse can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce cleanse?
- Cleanse is pronounced /klɛnz/.
- What is the past tense of cleanse?
- The past tense of cleanse is cleansed.
Words near cleanse in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: cleanse (page history and authors); धोना (Hindi) (page history and authors); cleanse (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); cleanse (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); دھونا (Urdu) (page history and authors); cleanse (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); cleanse (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); cleanse (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); cleanse (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ଶୁଧାଇବା (Odia) (page history and authors); ধোৱা (Assamese) (page history and authors); cleanse (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-cleanse.wav.
Cite this entry: “cleanse.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cleanse. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.