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

There’s a massive walk-in closet for linens—a seven-bedroom beach house needs a lot of room for storing sheets and towels—and downstairs there’s a large laundry room between the kitchen and dining room. —Mark David, Robb Report, 26 Jan. 2026

Be sure that there is no laundry in the drum and no detergent or fabric softener in the dispenser drawer. —Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 25 Jan. 2026

He’s cooked food over a camp stove, washed his laundry in the river and lived out of a tent. —Sally Krutzig, Idaho Statesman, 23 Jan. 2026

Bathrooms, laundry services and a kitchen will be communal. —Stephen Hobbs, Sacbee.com, 23 Jan. 2026

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