Word.ws English Dictionary

Magdalene laundry

Magdalene laundry noun: a religious facility in which prostitutes and unmarried mothers were kept, usually against their will, as a source of forced labour to launder clothes.

Noun

Magdalene laundry (plural Magdalene laundries)

  1. (Ireland, historical) A religious facility in which prostitutes and unmarried mothers were kept, usually against their will, as a source of forced labour to launder clothes.

Synonyms of Magdalene laundry

Forms of Magdalene laundry

pluralMagdalene laundries

Origin of Magdalene laundry

Named after Mary Magdalene, traditionally associated with prostitution and a patron saint of penitent sinners.

Questions about Magdalene laundry

What does Magdalene laundry mean?
Magdalene laundry means a religious facility in which prostitutes and unmarried mothers were kept, usually against their will, as a source of forced labour to launder clothes.
What part of speech is Magdalene laundry?
Magdalene laundry is a noun.
What is the plural of Magdalene laundry?
The plural of Magdalene laundry is Magdalene laundries.

Words near Magdalene laundry in the dictionary

  1. Magdalene asylums
  2. Magdalene hospital
  3. Magdalene hospitals
  4. Magdalene Islands
  5. Magdalene laundries
  6. Magdalene laundry
  7. Magdalenes
  8. Magdalenian
  9. Magdalenians
  10. Magdalenite
  11. Magdalenites

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Magdalene laundry (page history and authors). 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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