dry cleaning

noun

1

: the cleansing of fabrics with substantially nonaqueous organic solvents

2

: something that is dry-cleaned

Examples of dry cleaning in a Sentence

I can pick up the dry cleaning on my way home.

Recent Examples on the Web

Lightner, who was known to staff members as the madd Queen, sometimes used the organization’s funds to pay for personal expenses, including dry cleaning and babysitting. —Charles Duhigg, New Yorker, 26 Jan. 2026

High school sweethearts from Duncan, Bradley Cox ran a third-generation dry cleaning business in Oklahoma City, and Farah Cox was a speech pathologist. —J.c. Hallman, Oklahoma Watch, 22 Jan. 2026

Most of these comforters don’t require dry cleaning, but routine washing and a tumble dry cycle can extend the life of your comforter. —Julia Harrison, Architectural Digest, 22 Jan. 2026

There are apps for everything so use one to remind you when the washer or dryer cycle is finished or when to pick up dry cleaning. —Mary Marlowe Leverette, The Spruce, 19 Jan. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1855, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for dry cleaning

• careening
• convening
• demeaning
• housecleaning
• machining
• unmeaning
• contravening
• intervening
• overweening
• reconvening
• supervening
• gleaning