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
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These crafts are perfect for putting down your phone and picking up a creative outlet.—
Sophia Beams,
Better Homes & Gardens,
11 June 2026 -
Be sure to give your eyes time to adjust and use your phone's camera to scan the sky, as your phone's camera is better at picking up faint auroras than the naked eye.—
Michele Laufik,
Martha Stewart,
4 June 2026
Verb
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Professors are censoring themselves in lectures and rewriting syllabuses.—
Bruce Schneier,
The Conversation,
27 May 2026
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Residents began self-censoring in private chats and deleting posts out of fear of reprisal.—
Mostafa Salem,
CNN Money,
16 Apr. 2026
Verb
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This strategy was key to eradicating the pest for the first time in the 1960s.—
Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez,
Fortune,
10 June 2026
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Some wall texts are labeled The work that remained and describe shortfalls of Obama-era policies and ambitions, such as the Affordable Care Act or eradicating nuclear weapons.—
Kelsey Ables,
The Atlantic,
9 June 2026
Verb
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Simison emphasized robust public-safety services, including shortening fire department response times, incorporating new technologies into policing and the advent of several large developments and transportation projects.—
Rose Evans,
Idaho Statesman,
4 June 2026
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Many researchers have theorized that melting Ice Age glaciers likely helped passively shift the Altar Stone closer to southern England’s Salisbury Plain around 2500 BCE, shortening the transport distance for Stonehenge’s creators.—
Andrew Paul,
Popular Science,
4 June 2026
Verb
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Additionally, architecture must be connected and long-term ecosystem partners need to be treated as strategic capability extensions, not interchangeable vendors that operate on short-term rotations, erasing institutional memory.—
Harpreet Sidhu,
Fortune,
13 June 2026
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Removing it can also remove , which helps stop someone else from erasing, activating and reselling your phone.—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
12 June 2026
Verb
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Dario Amodei, co-founder of Anthropic, has been outspoken about the risks of artificial intelligence wiping out half of all entry-level jobs and driving unemployment up by 20%.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
1 June 2026
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In power since 1994, he has been accused of flagrant human rights violations against his critics, wiping out opposition and independent media.—
Yuliya Talmazan,
NBC news,
30 May 2026
Verb
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In 1926, diplomats gathered beneath the high ceilings of the League of Nations in Geneva to draft the world's first international treaty abolishing slavery.—
Nicole F. Roberts,
Forbes.com,
12 June 2026
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His Green New Scam surrendered American Energy Dominance and, by abolishing the Southern Border, Biden let 21 million people from all over the World pour into the United States, including from prisons, jails, mental institutions, and insane asylums.—
New York Times,
New York Times,
11 June 2026
Verb
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For a few minutes at each end of that window, the moon’s edge will appear to align with that of the sun, blotting out the star’s fierce light and revealing the wispy corona off to one side.—
Meghan Bartels,
Scientific American,
6 Apr. 2026
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From up in the space shuttle, in 1983, astronaut Sally Ride could see the pollution blotting out her Los Angeles hometown.—
Patt Morrison,
Los Angeles Times,
26 Mar. 2026
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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 16 Jun. 2026.
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