cleanse

Word family

Related topics: Illness & disability

cleanse /klenz/ verb [transitiveT]

1 MICUREto make something completely clean 使清洁，清洗

Use a piece of gauze to cleanse the cut.

用一块纱布清洗伤口。

The water is cleansed and reused.

水净化后被循环使用。

► see thesaurus at clean

2 to remove everything that is bad or immoral from a person’s character, an organization, or a place – used especially in news reports 清除〔不好或不道德的一切，尤用于新闻报道〕

cleanse somebody/something of something

The mayor was elected on a promise to cleanse the city government of corruption.

市长当选时承诺要清除市政府的腐败现象。

→ ethnic cleansing

Examples from the Corpus

cleanse• The wound was then cleansed and redressed aseptically.• This is a soul cleansing, carefully detailing the surrounding circumstances and the pressures that demanded that action be taken immediately.• Climbing the places he had loved came to seem like a cleansing experience for a sick soul.• Music had cleansed him as a river cleans a gorge through which it tumbles.• Swimming in open-air hot bathwater in view of ice-topped peaks is different, wonderfully different - cleansing, relaxing and just good.• Cleanse the wound with alcohol.• First I had to be cleansed - this meant drinking a lot of medicated water and throwing it up again.• They involve the same exfoliating, cleansing, toning and moisturising routines as facials.• She performed a 200-peso, or $ 25, ritual cleansing with herbs, flowers, chiles and perfumed lotions.• This lotion cleanses your skin deep down, while preserving its natural pH balance.

cleanse somebody/something of something• The prisoners prayed that they would be cleansed of their sins.

cleanse verb

Chinese

Corpus