clean

clean up

verb

Definition of CLEAN

1

to make a place neat and orderly by removing extraneous stuff <you're expected to clean up after you use the workroom>

Synonyms pick up, tidy (up)

Related Words houseclean, housekeep; clean (off), clean (up), neaten, police (up), straighten (up), turn out, unclutter; arrange, order

Phrases clean house, set straight

Near Antonyms clutter, disarrange, mess (up)

2

to remove objectionable parts from <cleaned up the rock star's interview before publishing it in the newspaper>

Synonyms bowdlerize, clean (up), expurgate, launder, red-pencil

Related Words cleanse, purge, purify; abbreviate, blue-pencil, edit, shorten; bleep, blip, cut (out), delete, excise, expunge, gut, x (out); black out, repress, silence, suppress; censure, condemn, denounce; examine, review, screen, scrutinize

Near Antonyms approve, authorize, sanction

3

to destroy all traces of <hurriedly cleaned up the mess that they had created in the kitchen>

Synonyms abolish, black out, blot out, cancel, clean (up), efface, eradicate, erase, expunge, exterminate, extirpate, liquidate, obliterate, root (out), rub out, snuff (out), stamp (out), sweep (away), wipe out

Related Words decimate, demolish, destroy, devastate, ravage; dismantle, flatten, mow (down), raze, tear down; ruin, total, waste, wreck; blast, blow up, dash, dynamite, smash; atomize, consume, devour, dissolve, fragment, powder, pulverize, shatter, splinter; doom, finish, kill, kill off, terminate, zap; cancel, cut, discard, ditch, eject, excise, expel, jettison, oust, throw out

Near Antonyms conserve, preserve, protect, save; build, construct, create, fabricate, fashion, forge, form, frame, make, manufacture, shape; fix, mend, patch, rebuild, recondition, reconstruct, renew, renovate, repair, restore, revamp