| Library / English Dictionary |
HOUSECLEANING
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The act of cleaning the rooms and furnishings of a house
Example:
efficient housecleaning should proceed one room at a time
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("housecleaning" is a kind of...):
cleaning; cleansing; cleanup (the act of making something clean)
Derivation:
houseclean (clean and tidy up the house)
Sense 2
Meaning:
(figurative) the act of reforming by the removal of unwanted personnel or practices or conditions
Example:
many employees were discharged in a general housecleaning by the new owners
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("housecleaning" is a kind of...):
reform (a change for the better as a result of correcting abuses)
Domain usage:
figure; figure of speech; image; trope (language used in a figurative or nonliteral sense)
