cleanup

1 of 3

noun

clean·​up ˈklēn-ˌəp 

1

: an act or instance of cleaning

The children helped with the cleanup.

2

: an exceptionally large profit

made a cleanup [=killing] when he sold his stocks

cleanup

2 of 3

adjective

: being in the fourth position in the batting order of a baseball team

a cleanup hitter

cleanup adverb

clean up

3 of 3

verb

cleaned up; cleaning up; cleans up

intransitive verb

1

: to make a spectacular profit in a business enterprise or a killing in speculation or gambling

2

: to become free of drug or alcohol addiction

I always cleaned up for tours. … By the end of the tour, I'm perfectly clean and should have stayed sober.

—Keith Richards

Examples of cleanup in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Following extensive land cleanup, the conversion of Ford’s 122-acre Twin Cities Assembly Plant campus into housing and commerce at Highland Bridge remains an ongoing, stop-and-go effort, 15 years after the plant closed in late 2011. —Frederick Melo, Twin Cities, 5 Apr. 2026

In 1969, a Puerto Rican civil rights group, the Young Lords, held weekly street cleanups in East Harlem to highlight the racial and economic inequality that existed in city garbage collection. —Tim Craig The Washington Post, Arkansas Online, 5 Apr. 2026

Adjective

The Grand Calumet River and Indiana Harbor Ship Canal — located in East Chicago — were polluted from more than a century of industrial and municipal wastewater discharges, and caused multiple grassroots organizations to advocate for cleanup measures along the river. —Maya Wilkins, Chicago Tribune, 26 Aug. 2025

Officials declined to specify how frequently troops have been tasked with cleanup duties, but emphasized the effort supports community improvement alongside public safety operations. —Amanda Castro hannah Parry, MSNBC Newsweek, 25 Aug. 2025

Verb

At the time, Kansas City police chief and former FBI agent Lear Reed was on a campaign to clean up the police force and remove the lingering influences of Pendergast. —Patrick Salland, Kansas City Star, 7 Apr. 2026

There is, of course, less cleaning up going on than cleaning out. —Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 6 Apr. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Noun

see clean entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

1872, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Adjective

1912, in the meaning defined above

Verb

1920, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for cleanup

• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup
• markup
• pickup

Kids Definition

cleanup

noun

clean·​up

ˈklē-ˌnəp

: an act or instance of cleaning

helped with the cleanup after the meal