to cleanse
73
4.8
- verb
- /klɛnz/
- Formal
:
purificar
- We're starting anew here, cleansing the waters.
- cleansed of sin
- cleanse the heart
- cleanse society
And so they cleansed even the Bible itself.
- And so they cleansed even the Bible itself.
- If the nation had started to cleanse, it'd be done by now.
- And you need to cleanse yourself of the financial sins.
- Go through the whole house and then to cleanse it of the evil spirits.
- And it was like, if poison enters you, you need to cleanse it somehow, right?
- It's all we want to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians.
- The bed mark is like cleansing that aura.
- We eat his, his flesh to cleanse ourselves.
Examples
-
She wanted to be cleansed of her former life.
-
Some months later, the new couple went through a ritual to cleanse themselves of the sexual transgression.
Academic text (1992) -
You have got to cleanse his energy from your life.
-
God has chosen us to cleanse this place.
-
And you need to cleanse yourself of the financial sins.
-
Go through the whole house and then to cleanse it of the evil spirits.
-
In feeling guilty toward her, he could cleanse himself of his anger toward her.
Fiction book (1997) -
In 1997, the generals decided to cleanse the public sphere of the growing Muslim presence.
Academic text (2000) -
Cleanse this house.
-
To cleanse your mind, practice meditation regularly.
Synonyms
∞
3.0
To free someone from something harmful or unwanted
∞
1.6
To remove or throw away something you do not want
85
6.6
Remove something harmful completely, for example a disease or pest
51
4.5
Force unwanted people or things out of a place, often using water
30
7.0
To clear someone of blame or guilt
28
5.1
To make someone feel morally clean and free from guilt
27
6.1
Make a thought or feeling go away so it stops bothering you
21
8.8
To remove all signs of something like a record or memory so it cannot be found
12
1.0
To remove something unwanted from a place or person
10
3.6
Remove people completely from a place or group because they are unwanted
10
1.8
To take things away from a place to make it tidy
7
4.3
To make people forget and stop caring about something
4
7.7
To get rid of feelings like guilt or blame
1
3.9
To destroy or carry something away completely, for example by water
1
7.6
To remove a stain or impurity so something becomes clean
1
9.9
To destroy something completely, including its root
To remove a stain or blame from someone's name
Antonyms
How Pure
- Formal
50
7.2
30
4.6
- Formal
73
4.8
- Formal
1
9.5
98
2.3
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Cleanse also grew from the idea of clean as washing, so a helpful way to remember it is to imagine 'washing away' bad things. That's why cleanse can mean to rid a person or place of guilt, bad thoughts, or unwanted elements.