laundry

noun

laun·​dry ˈlȯn-drē 

ˈlän-

plural laundries

1

a

: a room for doing the family wash

b

: a commercial laundering establishment

2

: clothes or linens that have been or are to be laundered

Examples of laundry in a Sentence

There's a pile of dirty laundry in the laundry basket.

The patients' sheets are sent regularly to the hospital laundry.

Recent Examples on the Web

Song recently stopped by The Jennifer Hudson Show to promote her new show, Netflix’s Running Point, when Hudson asked her about teaching the Home Alone star how to do laundry, which was revealed in their Cosmopolitan cover story in January. —Lexi Carson, The Hollywood Reporter, 14 Mar. 2025

The agency said gushes of water flooded downstream villages, catching the children who were fishing or doing laundry on a nearby river by surprise and also destroying agricultural equipment and killing livestock. —Compiled By Democrat-Gazette Staff From Wire Reports, arkansasonline.com, 14 Mar. 2025

At this age, kids can do their own laundry, cook complete meals, babysit younger siblings, and manage personal budgets. —Beth Ann Mayer, Parents, 13 Mar. 2025

However, in homes with untreated hard water, your laundry will start to look gray and faded within a much shorter timeframe than normal due to the heavy minerals in the water. —Timothy Dale, Better Homes & Gardens, 11 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1577, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing laundry

• air one's dirty laundry
• dirty laundry
• do the/one's laundry
• laundry list
• load of laundry

Kids Definition

laundry

noun

laun·​dry ˈlȯn-drē 

ˈlän-

plural laundries

1

: clothes or linens that have been or are to be laundered

2

: a place where laundering is done

Etymology

from an obsolete word launder (noun) "one who washes clothes," derived from early French lavandier (or lavandiere) "a man (or woman) who washes clothes," from Latin lavandus "needing to be washed," from lavare "to wash" — related to lavatory, lavish, lotion