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

Instead, Gagliardi recommends running a quick wash cycle and adding a product like Clorox® Laundry Sanitizer, which can squash the odor-causing bacteria lurking in your damp laundry. —Patricia Shannon, Southern Living, 3 Jan. 2026

Mothers of young children rush to wash large amounts of children’s laundry as soon as power returns. —Daria Tarasova-Markina, CNN Money, 2 Jan. 2026

Always sort your laundry and wash similar colors together to help prevent dye transfer. —Mary Marlowe Leverette, The Spruce, 31 Dec. 2025

Many people hurt their backs simply by lifting groceries or loading laundry, but deadlifts are a great way to teach your body how to lift things safely. —Jakob Roze, Health, 31 Dec. 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