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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 →
  2. (adjective) Used for cleaning: cleansing wipes, cleansing lotion. tree →
  3. (formal) Getting rid of something bad or unwanted, including feelings: a cleansing cry. tree →
  4. (euphemism) Ethnic cleansing: a horrible crime where people are forced out or killed because of their group. tree →

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 →
  • Mum uses a cleansing lotion on her face. tree →
  • The nurse was cleansing the wound before putting on a plaster. tree →
  • Fresh air felt cleansing after the stuffy classroom. tree →
  • (euphemism) Ethnic cleansing is a crime against humanity, though the words sound clean. tree →
  • Cleansing wipes are handy on a camping trip. tree →
  • But cleansing his feathers as often as he would, he could not change their color, while through want of food he perished. tree →

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 →
  • 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 →
  • 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 →
  • 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 →

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

This page in Markdown → https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/cleansing/