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Clean vs Wipe - What's the difference?

clean | wipe |

In transitive terms the difference between clean and wipe

is that clean is to tidy up, make a place neat while wipe is to remove by rubbing; to rub off; to obliterate; usually followed by away, off, or out.

As an adjective clean

is Free of dirt or impurities or protruberances.

As an adverb clean

is fully and completely.

clean

English

(wikipedia clean)

Adjective

(er)
  • Free of dirt or impurities or protruberances.
  • #Not dirty.
  • #:
  • #*
  • #*:Then his sallow face brightened, for the hall had been carefully furnished, and was very clean . ¶ There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls.
  • #In an unmarked condition.
  • #:
  • #(lb) Allowing an uninterrupted flow over surfaces, without protrusions such as racks or landing gear.
  • #Empty.
  • #:
  • #(lb) Having relatively few impurities.
  • #:
  • Free of immorality or criminality.
  • #Pure, especially morally or religiously.
  • #:
  • #*(Bible), (Psalms) li.10:
  • #*:Create in me a clean heart, O God.
  • #* (1809-1892)
  • #*:That I am whole, and clean , and meet for Heaven.
  • #Not having used drugs or alcohol.
  • #:
  • # Without restrictions or penalties, or someone having such a record.
  • #:
  • #(lb) Not in possession of weapons or contraband such as drugs.
  • #:
  • Smooth, exact, and performed well.
  • :
  • (lb) Cool or neat.
  • :
  • (lb) Being free of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
  • :
  • Which doesn’t .
  • :
  • Free from that which is useless or injurious; without defects.
  • :
  • Free from restraint or neglect; complete; entire.
  • *(Bible), (w) xxiii.22:
  • *:When ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of corners of thy field.
  • Well-proportioned; shapely.
  • :
  • Ascended without falling.
  • Synonyms

    * (not dirty) * (empty)

    Antonyms

    * dirty * unclean

    Derived terms

    * clean as a hound's tooth * * clean sheet * clean sweep * cleanliness * cleanly * come clean * lick clean * unclean

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Removal of dirt.
  • This place needs a clean .
  • (weightlifting) The first part of the event clean and jerk in which the weight is brought from the ground to the shoulders.
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To remove dirt from a place or object.
  • Can you clean the windows today?
  • To tidy up, make a place neat.
  • Clean your room right now!
  • (climbing) To remove equipment from a climbing route after it was previously lead climbed.
  • To make things clean in general.
  • She just likes to clean . That’s why I married her.
  • (curling) To brush the ice lightly in front of a moving rock to remove any debris and ensure a correct line; less vigorous than a sweep.
  • Synonyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * clean someone’s clock * clean out * clean up * cleaner * houseclean

    Adverb

    (er)
  • Fully and completely.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
  • , title=(The China Governess) , chapter=1 citation , passage=The huge square box, parquet-floored and high-ceilinged, had been arranged to display a suite of bedroom furniture designed and made in the halcyon days of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, when modish taste was just due to go clean out of fashion for the best part of the next hundred years.}}

    wipe

    English

    (wikipedia wipe)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) (m), from (etyl) . More at (l), (l).

    Verb

    (wip)
  • To move an object over, maintaining contact, with the intention of removing some substance from the surface. (cf. rub)
  • Melissa wiped her glasses with her shirt.
    I wiped the sweat from my brow with the back of my hand.
    Tom started to wipe his eyes.
  • * 1900 , , (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz)
  • So they passed through the Palace Gates and were led into a big room with a green carpet and lovely green furniture set with emeralds. The soldier made them all wipe their feet upon a green mat before entering this room, and when they were seated he said politely
  • To remove by rubbing; to rub off; to obliterate; usually followed by away'', ''off'', or ''out .
  • * (rfdate) Milton
  • Some natural tears they dropped, but wiped them soon.
  • (obsolete) To cheat; to defraud; to trick; usually followed by out .
  • (Spenser)
  • * (rfdate) Robynson (More's Utopia)
  • If they by coveyne [covin] or gile be wiped beside their goods.
  • (computing) To erase.
  • I accidentally wiped my hard drive.
  • (plumbing) To make (a joint, as between pieces of lead pipe), by surrounding the junction with a mass of solder, applied in a plastic condition by means of a rag with which the solder is shaped by rubbing.
  • Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act of wiping something.
  • multiple wipes of a computer's hard disk
  • A soft piece of cloth or cloth-like material used for wiping.
  • A kind of film transition where one shot replaces another by travelling from one side of the frame to another or with a special shape.
  • Derived terms

    * asswipe * baby wipe * wet wipe * wipe away * wipe off * wipe out * wipeout * wipe somebody's eye * wipe the floor * wipe the slate clean * wiper

    Etymology 2

    Compare (etyl) (m), (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The lapwing.