laundry

noun

laun·​dry ˈlȯn-drē 

ˈlän-

plural laundries

1

a

: a room for doing the family wash

b

: a commercial laundering establishment

2

: clothes or linens that have been or are to be laundered

Examples of laundry in a Sentence

There's a pile of dirty laundry in the laundry basket.

The patients' sheets are sent regularly to the hospital laundry.

Recent Examples on the Web

Some of them blatantly disregarded social distancing and basic hand-washing policies and didn’t separate COVID-19 patients’ and non-COVID patients’ laundry. —Kevin G. Hall, Miami Herald, 7 Nov. 2025

Due to an unbalanced spin cycle, the washer is unable to rotate and drain the excess water from the laundry properly. —Timothy Dale, Better Homes & Gardens, 6 Nov. 2025

Williams, 32, was a boilerman at a laundry where his wife, Annie, was a presser. —Equal Justice Initiative, USA Today, 6 Nov. 2025

Even small acts—sharing a song, looking at a family photo or folding laundry together—can anchor the relationship. —Lauryn Higgins, Flow Space, 5 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1577, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing laundry

• air one's dirty laundry
• dirty laundry
• do the/one's laundry
• laundry list
• load of laundry

Kids Definition

laundry

noun

laun·​dry ˈlȯn-drē 

ˈlän-

plural laundries

1

: clothes or linens that have been or are to be laundered

2

: a place where laundering is done

Etymology

from an obsolete word launder (noun) "one who washes clothes," derived from early French lavandier (or lavandiere) "a man (or woman) who washes clothes," from Latin lavandus "needing to be washed," from lavare "to wash" — related to lavatory, lavish, lotion