HOUSECLEANING

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

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)

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)