laundry
Americannoun
plural
laundries-
articles of clothing, linens, etc., that have been or are to be washed.
-
a business establishment where clothes, linens, etc., are laundered.
-
a room or area, as in a home or apartment building, reserved for doing the family wash.
noun
-
a place where clothes and linen are washed and ironed
-
the clothes or linen washed and ironed
-
the act of laundering
Etymology
Origin of laundry
1350–1400; Middle English lavandrie < Middle French lavanderie. See launder, -y 3
Explanation
Laundry refers to the clothes and bedding that you can wash in your washing machine or at the laundromat. Nothing smells quite as good as clean laundry. When you do your laundry, you wash your dirty clothes, as well as any towels, sheets, and other linens that could use a wash too. A laundry room is the place in an apartment building, business, or dormitory where there are washers and dryers. Sometimes people send their laundry out to a commercial laundry, where they pay someone else to wash their things. Laundry has a Latin root, lavare, "to wash."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The carrier left a naval base in Crete earlier this week after returning to the base following a laundry fire onboard, which injured two crew members.
From Barron's • Mar. 28, 2026
The fire began in the main laundry space and spread to other parts of the ship, including sailors’ sleeping quarters.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 27, 2026
He said he was happy to drive out of town to sleep but was aware others were less considerate, including reports of people hanging laundry on residential streets and parking across driveways.
From BBC • Mar. 27, 2026
Shares of Meta Platforms faced their steepest selloff of the year on Thursday, with recent social-media lawsuits targeting the company joining a laundry list of investor conditions.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 26, 2026
When I got to the laundry, a fella was bent over a book with his arms folded on the counter.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
