cleansed; cleansing; cleanses
1
: clean
especially
: to rid of impurities by or as if by washing
cleansed the wound
It's that mystical state most athletes are lucky to achieve a few times in their careers. The mind is cleansed. The body is free. —
Jon Wertheim
Jon Wertheim 2
: to expel, imprison, or kill (the members of an ethnic minority) in (an area) : to subject to or remove by ethnic cleansing
In 1996, tens of thousands of ethnic Tutsis, most of them of Rwandan origin, were murdered or ethnically cleansed in the Masisi region of eastern Zaire.—David Rieff
David Rieff
: to engage in or undergo a cleanse to remove toxins from the body
Some people who cleanse say they experience dramatic physical changes.—Karen Hube
Karen Hube
: a very restrictive short-term diet primarily intended to remove toxins from the body
Under the supervision of her nutritionist … Gillian Anderson has reportedly participated in cleanses that consist of little more than liquids for 10 days.—J. D. Heiman
J. D. Heiman… told me about her 28-day cleanse, which limits the caffeine, sugar, gluten, dairy and red meat in your diet.—Jon Harris
Jon HarrisSynonyms
Examples of cleanse in a Sentence
Verb
The cut should be cleansed gently with mild soap and water.
in an elaborate ritual the priestess cleansed the gathering of supplicants
Recent Examples on the Web
Megan Specia, New York Times, 23 Jan. 2025
Wash gently: Use a soft washcloth when cleansing your baby’s face, and do not rub the skin.
—Carrie Madormo, Rn, Mph, Verywell Health, 23 Jan. 2025
Vicky Vera, Glamour, 24 Jan. 2025
The hammam routine involves mixed use of the herbal steam room, dry heat sauna, stimulating Swiss shower, cool mist room, aqua massage vitality pool, and a warm marble belly stone; not to mention a vigorous body scrub followed by a purifying cleanse and 60- or 90-minute massage.
—Ariel Okin, Vogue, 22 Jan. 2025
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Verb
The material included a history of Nazi Germany, reports on violence in modern Sri Lanka, documents about war in Chechnya, a book on clan cleansing in Somalia, academic reports on the Rwandan genocide and a paper on punishments used on enslaved people on 18th-century British plantations.
—Megan Specia, New York Times, 23 Jan. 2025
Wash gently: Use a soft washcloth when cleansing your baby’s face, and do not rub the skin.
—Carrie Madormo, Rn, Mph, Verywell Health, 23 Jan. 2025
Noun
While doing a cleanse or following a certain meal plan has become common for many around this time of year, the definition of a detox diet has become murky.
—Vicky Vera, Glamour, 24 Jan. 2025
The hammam routine involves mixed use of the herbal steam room, dry heat sauna, stimulating Swiss shower, cool mist room, aqua massage vitality pool, and a warm marble belly stone; not to mention a vigorous body scrub followed by a purifying cleanse and 60- or 90-minute massage.
—Ariel Okin, Vogue, 22 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for cleanse
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Cite this Entry
“Cleanse.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cleanse. Accessed 9 Feb. 2025.
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