1
as in tidying (up)
to make a place neat and orderly by removing extraneous stuff
you're expected to clean up after you use the workroom
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in censoring
to remove objectionable parts from
cleaned up the rock star's interview before publishing it in the newspaper
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in eradicating
to destroy all traces of
hurriedly cleaned up the mess that they had created in the kitchen
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cleaning (up)
Verb
-
The country had been at war only a few weeks, but already an organization was censoring mail.—
Pat Tompkins,
AFAR Media,
25 Aug. 2025 -
As such, censoring misinformation carries the strong risk of censoring a good-faith idea.—
Jacob Hale Russell,
TIME,
4 Mar. 2025
Verb
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Israel's government says the offensive is aimed at eradicating Hamas, which still holds Israeli hostages.—
Aya Batrawy,
NPR,
1 Sep. 2025
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The Shook family and its firm are active fundraisers for research and therapies aimed at eradicating breast cancer.—
Mark Tatge,
Forbes.com,
29 Aug. 2025
Verb
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But warming is disrupting this balance, reducing snowfall, shortening the precipitation season, and in some cases shifting it from snow to rain.—
Bojan Stojkovski,
Interesting Engineering,
30 Aug. 2025
-
This week, during a meeting of that council, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the administration was considering shortening the window for postdisaster funding.—
Rachel Frazin,
The Hill,
29 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Johnson’s legacy feels particularly urgent as the National Park Service recently removed all references to transgender people from its New York Stonewall National Monument website, erasing the central role trans women of color played in the 1969 riots.—
Essence,
Essence,
6 Sep. 2025
-
These services do all the work for you by actively monitoring and systematically erasing your personal information from hundreds of websites.—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
6 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Firefighters are staffing the fire through the night as winds are picking up again this evening, similar to last night.—
CA WILDFIRE BOT,
Sacbee.com,
30 Aug. 2025
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In his next bout, Chimaev went the distance for the first time in his career, picking up a victory over Gilbert Burns.—
Trent Reinsmith,
Forbes.com,
16 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Outdoor Voices, once the toast of the category, faded into restructuring, wiping out its entire social media presence.—
Alexander Puutio,
Forbes.com,
29 Aug. 2025
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At least 61,000 people living in the Gaza Strip have died in Israel’s subsequent military campaign aimed at wiping out Hamas and recovering the hostages.—
Nancy Tartaglione,
Deadline,
27 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Whereas opposition parties favored cutting or abolishing it, the ruling coalition of the LDP and Komeito—concerned that such a move would spook financial markets—instead offered one-time cash payments of roughly $140 per person to defray the cost of living.—
Mireya Solís,
Foreign Affairs,
1 Sep. 2025
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Where it’s offered In 2023, Illinois became the first state to eliminate cash bail when the state Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the law abolishing it.—
Melissa Goldin,
Chicago Tribune,
26 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Unfortunately, the 2025 Perseids happened to coincide with the appearance of a waxing gibbous moon, which bleached the sky with moonlight, blotting out all but the brightest members of the ancient meteor shower.—
Anthony Wood,
Space.com,
13 Aug. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Cleaning (up).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cleaning%20%28up%29. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
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