1
as in to tidy (up)
to make a place neat and orderly by removing extraneous stuff
you're expected to clean up after you use the workroom
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to censor
to remove objectionable parts from
cleaned up the rock star's interview before publishing it in the newspaper
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3
as in to eradicate
to destroy all traces of
hurriedly cleaned up the mess that they had created in the kitchen
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as in killing
an exceptionally large return
The couple made a cleanup when they flipped the house.
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of clean (up)
Expert Panel®, Forbes, 5 Mar. 2025
The fund provides low-interest loans with flexible terms to help with the environmental cleanup of vacant and underutilized properties.
—Celia Fernandez,tasia Jensen, CNBC, 4 Mar. 2025
That shared sense of purpose compelled them to form a cleanup brigade in the fires’ early days.
—Melanie Stetson Freeman, The Christian Science Monitor, 27 Feb. 2025
There has never been dispute over whether the factory released or spilled the chemical at its property, where limited cleanups have been conducted since the early 2000s.
—Kevin Spear, Orlando Sentinel, 28 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for clean (up)
Noun
Doing a quarterly grid cleanup where social media posts that are no longer relevant are archived clears space for people to receive the new social media marketing content.
—Expert Panel®, Forbes, 5 Mar. 2025
The fund provides low-interest loans with flexible terms to help with the environmental cleanup of vacant and underutilized properties.
—Celia Fernandez,tasia Jensen, CNBC, 4 Mar. 2025
That shared sense of purpose compelled them to form a cleanup brigade in the fires’ early days.
—Melanie Stetson Freeman, The Christian Science Monitor, 27 Feb. 2025
There has never been dispute over whether the factory released or spilled the chemical at its property, where limited cleanups have been conducted since the early 2000s.
—Kevin Spear, Orlando Sentinel, 28 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for clean (up)
Recent Examples of Synonyms for clean (up)
Verb
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Rachel Davidson, an attorney with the ACLU of Massachusetts, said removing the articles and censoring medical research is a serious constitutional violation.—
Deon J. Hampton,
NBC News,
13 Mar. 2025
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The organization said laws in both states censor certain books in public schools.—
Sara Chernikoff,
USA TODAY,
12 Mar. 2025
Verb
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In places where measles have largely been eradicated, cases have been spread by travelers from other countries.—
ASSOCIATED PRESS,
TIME,
27 Feb. 2025
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Or for whatever reason, your particular brand of BV or yeast may just need a stronger or longer dose of meds to eradicate.—
Erica Sloan,
SELF,
27 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Last month 10 former New York corrections employees were indicted in the killing of Robert Brooks, an inmate violently beaten while handcuffed in a prison infirmary in December.—
Natalie Neysa Alund,
USA TODAY,
4 Mar. 2025
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Migrant arrivals at the U.S. border are at their lowest in years, and last week, Mexico extradited 29 cartel figures to the U.S., including the man involved in the 1985 killing of a DEA agent.—
Gordon G. Chang,
Newsweek,
3 Mar. 2025
Verb
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That intermingled production ecosystem represents a whopping $20 billion in trade, and the interest in shortening supply chains that has taken hold in recent years has spurred consistent investment across the region.—
Kate Nishimura,
Sourcing Journal,
4 Mar. 2025
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The city moved up and shortened the celebration’s two biggest parades, hoping to wrap them up before high winds moved in.—
Jeff Martin and Jack Brook,
Los Angeles Times,
4 Mar. 2025
Verb
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However, the fact the show includes Laurie’s Christianity while simultaneously erasing a scene featuring a trans character hints at Disney’s embrace of a cultural shift towards traditional conservatism during the second Trump administration.—
Abby Monteil,
Them,
4 Mar. 2025
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The footage was erased but during an investigation the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau was able to recover it.—
Thomas Tracy,
New York Daily News,
4 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Putting aside the many risks, there are clearly vast profits to be made in doing business with Russia, which incidentally also has the world’s fourth biggest reserves of rare earths, far bigger than Ukraine’s.—
Matthew Chance,
CNN,
2 Mar. 2025
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As outlined in a U.S. Supreme Court case, a key test for whether an investment product is a security is whether people are investing in a common enterprise with the expectation of profit.—
Hannah Lang,
USA TODAY,
1 Mar. 2025
Verb
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Trump first sued the network a few days before the November election, alleging that the program had violated a Texas consumer protection law by deceptively editing an interview with Kamala Harris.—
Gene Maddaus,
Variety,
6 Mar. 2025
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The creation of this content included the use of AI based on templates created, reviewed and edited by journalists in the newsroom.—
CA Weather Bot,
Sacramento Bee,
6 Mar. 2025
Verb
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Yet even as years’ worth of political backlash has drowned out calls to defund or abolish forces, perceptions of police shaped by tragedies like George Floyd and Uvalde aren’t so easily forgotten.—
Judy Berman,
TIME,
12 Mar. 2025
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But the administration's efforts to abolish federal agencies authorized by Congress are likely to meet the same fate as their attempts to stiff USAID contractors.—
Faisal Kutty,
Newsweek,
11 Mar. 2025
Articles Related to clean (up)
Cite this Entry
“Clean (up).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/clean%20%28up%29. Accessed 16 Mar. 2025.
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