1. Free from dirt or impurities; or having clean habits
   "clean dishes"; "a spotlessly clean house"; "cats are clean animals"; "children with clean shining faces"; "clean white shirts"
    
2. Free from impurities
   "clean water";
   - fresh
    
3. (of sound or colour) free from anything that dulls or dims
   "efforts to obtain a clean bass in orchestral recordings";
   - clear, light, unclouded
    
4. (of behaviour or especially language) free from objectionable elements; fit for all observers
   "a clean joke"; "good clean fun";
   - unobjectionable
    
5. Morally pure
   "led a clean life";
   - clean-living
    
6. Not spreading pollution or contamination; especially radioactive contamination
   "a clean fuel"; "cleaner and more efficient engines"; "the tactical bomb is reasonably clean";
   - uncontaminating
    
7. (religion) ritually clean or pure
   "The priest ensured that the altar was clean before the ceremony"
    
8. Free from sepsis or infection
   "a clean wound";
   - uninfected
    
9. Free from restrictions or qualifications
   "a clean bill of health";
   - clear
    
10. (of a record) having no marks of discredit or offence
    "a clean voting record"; "a clean driver's licence"
     
11. (of a manuscript) having few alterations or corrections
    "a clean manuscript";
    - fair
     
12. (of a surface) not written or printed on
    "a clean page";
    - blank, white
     
13. Exhibiting or calling for sportsmanship or fair play
    "a clean fight";
    - sporting, sporty, sportsmanlike
     
14. Without difficulties or problems
    "a clean test flight"
     
15. Thorough and without qualification
    "a clean break"; "a clean getaway"; "a clean sweep"
     
16. Free from clumsiness; precisely or deftly executed
    "The basketball player made a clean catch";
    - neat, slick
     
17. [informal] Not carrying concealed weapons
    "The security check confirmed that all visitors were clean"
     
18. [informal] Free of drugs
    "after a long dependency on heroin she has been clean for 4 years"

1. Make clean by removing dirt, filth, or unwanted substances from
   "Clean the stove!"; "The dentist cleaned my teeth"
    
2. Remove unwanted substances from, such as feathers or pits
   "Clean the turkey";
   - pick
    
3. Clean and tidy up the house
   "She cleans house every week";
   - houseclean, clean house [N. Amer]
    
4. Clean one's body or parts thereof, as by washing
   "clean up before you see your grandparents"; "clean your fingernails before dinner";
   - cleanse
    
5. Remove impurities from, esp. by a chemical reaction
   "The engineers used activated carbon to clean impurities from the water";
   - scavenge
    
6. Remove shells or husks from
   "clean grain before milling it"
    
7. Remove all contents or possessions from, or empty completely
   "The boys cleaned the sandwich platters"; "The trees were cleaned of apples by the storm";
   - strip
    
8. Deprive wholly of money in a gambling game, robbery, etc.
   "The other players cleaned him completely"
    
9. Be cleanable
   "This stove cleans easily"
    
10. Remove while making clean
    "Clean the spots off the rug"

1. [informal] Completely; used as an intensifier
   "clean forgot the appointment"; "I'm clean tuckered out";
   - plumb, plum
    
2. In conformity with the rules or laws and without fraud or cheating
   "they played clean";
   - fairly, fair

1. The act of making something clean
   "he gave his shoes a good clean";
   - cleaning, cleansing, cleanup
    
2. A weightlift in which the barbell is lifted to shoulder height and then jerked overhead
   "Olympic weightlifters train extensively in the clean and jerk technique";
   - clean and jerk

Derived forms: cleaning, cleaned, cleanest, cleaner, cleans

See also: adroit, antiseptic, cleanable, cleanly [archaic], cleanness, complete, decent, dry-cleaned, easy, empty, fair, fresh, halal, immaculate, intemerate [rare], just, kosher, legible, moral, perfect, pristine, pure, scrubbed, speckless, spic, spic-and-span, spick, spick-and-span, spotless, tidy, unaddicted, unarmed, unqualified, unsoiled, unspotted, unstained, unsullied, unused, washed, water-washed

Type of: alter, be, change, clean up, declutter, deprive, divest, exist, groom, improvement, modify, neaten, remove, square away [N. Amer], straighten, straighten out, strip, take, take away, tidy, tidy up, weightlift, weightlifting, withdraw

Antonym: below the belt, contaminating, dirty, grime, impure

Encyclopedia: Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate