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# cleansing

noun (cleansing); verb, -ing form of cleanse (cleanse, cleanses, cleansed, cleansing); adjective (cleansing)

«cleansing» in the English dictionary: everyday and in Jewish tradition — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. Making something very clean, especially skin or a wound: cleansing a cut. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cleansing/#m1)
2. (adjective) Used for cleaning: cleansing wipes, cleansing lotion. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cleansing/#m2)
3. (formal) Getting rid of something bad or unwanted, including feelings: a cleansing cry. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cleansing/#m3)
4. (euphemism) Ethnic cleansing: a horrible crime where people are forced out or killed because of their group. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cleansing/#m4)

### In the lessons

In first aid, cleansing a wound with clean water stops germs. In everyday life cleansing products are for washing the face. In history lessons "ethnic cleansing" is a soft-sounding phrase hiding a terrible crime. Phrases: cleansing wipe, face cleanser, cleansing breath.

### Examples

- Start by cleansing the cut with clean water. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cleansing/#x1)
- Mum uses a cleansing lotion on her face. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cleansing/#x2)
- The nurse was cleansing the wound before putting on a plaster. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cleansing/#x3)
- Fresh air felt cleansing after the stuffy classroom. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cleansing/#x4)
- (euphemism) Ethnic cleansing is a crime against humanity, though the words sound clean. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cleansing/#x5)
- Cleansing wipes are handy on a camping trip. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cleansing/#x6)
- But cleansing his feathers as often as he would, he could not change their color, while through want of food he perished. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cleansing/#x7)

### Note

Verb cleanse (say "klenz") is more formal than clean; cleansing drops the e. The product is a cleanser. Watch out for euphemisms that make cruel things sound neat.

## In Jewish tradition

In the Torah it means the ritual that makes a person clean again after sickness or impurity.

**Interpretation.** The priest examined a person with tzaraat and led the cleansing rites. Tradition says this skin disease was a spiritual sign and not an ordinary illness.

### Examples

- But if the scall spread abroad in the skin after his cleansing, (Torah LEV.13.35, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/cleansing/#x1)
- This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: he shall be brought unto the priest. (Torah LEV.14.2, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/cleansing/#x2)
- This is the law of him in whom is the plague of leprosy, whose means suffice not for that which pertaineth to his cleansing. (Torah LEV.14.32, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/cleansing/#x3)
- And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water for cleansing; thou was not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. (Prophets EZK.16.4, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/cleansing/#x4)

### Note

Verb cleanse (say "klenz") is more formal than clean; cleansing drops the e. The product is a cleanser. Watch out for euphemisms that make cruel things sound neat.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «cleansing» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cleansing/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«cleansing» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/cleansing.html) on Mova free.
- [Trees and pragmatics of «cleansing» in the Judaism dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/C/cleansing/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«cleansing» in the Judaism dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/judaism/w/cleansing.html) on Mova free.