cleanly

1 of 2

adverb

clean·​ly ˈklēn-lē How to pronounce cleanly (audio)
: in a clean manner

cleanly

2 of 2

adjective

clean·​ly ˈklen-lē How to pronounce cleanly (audio)
cleanlier; cleanliest
1
: careful to keep clean : fastidious
2
: habitually kept clean

Examples of cleanly in a Sentence

Adverb A sharp knife will cut through the skin of a tomato cleanly. This fuel burns more cleanly than other fuels.
Recent Examples on the Web
Adverb
The acoustic guitar plays through naturally, while the various other instrumentation rings out subtly and cleanly. Mark Knapp, PCMAG, 5 June 2024 Heim appeared to have caught it cleanly, though the umpires disagreed, prolonging Julien’s at-bat. Betsy Helfand, Twin Cities, 25 May 2024
Adjective
Among the 21 artists are Julia Chon and Dave Young Kim, who offer cleanly hard-edge paintings of, respectively, a woman in traditional garb and two storks below two strands of barbed wire. Mark Jenkins, Washington Post, 15 Sep. 2023 Ripa smiled at the camera with cleanly arched eyebrows, long eyelashes and long blonde locks that fell past her shoulders. Jill Lupupa, Peoplemag, 7 Aug. 2023 See all Example Sentences for cleanly 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cleanly.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

Adverb

13th century, in the meaning defined above

Adjective

circa 1500, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of cleanly was in the 13th century

Dictionary Entries Near cleanly

Cite this Entry

“Cleanly.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cleanly. Accessed 14 Jun. 2024.

Kids Definition

cleanly

1 of 2 adverb
clean·​ly ˈklēn-lē How to pronounce cleanly (audio)
: in a clean manner

cleanly

2 of 2 adjective
clean·​ly ˈklen-lē How to pronounce cleanly (audio)
cleanlier; cleanliest
1
: careful to keep clean
a cleanly animal
2
: being kept clean by habit
cleanly surroundings
cleanliness noun

More from Merriam-Webster on cleanly

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