- 1[countable] clothes that need to be cleaned, or clothes that have just been cleaned I'm doing a dark wash (= washing all the dark clothes together). Your shirt's in the wash (= being washed or waiting to be washed). My sweater shrank in the wash. Please put the wash in the dryer.
- 2[countable] an act of cleaning something using water and usually soap My hair color shouldn't have faded so much after only two washes. see car wash
- 3the wash [singular] an area of water that has waves and is moving a lot, especially after a boat has moved through it; the sound made by this The dinghy was rocked by the wash of a passing ferry. They listened to the wash of waves on the beach. Seagulls hovered above the wash of the trawler.
- 4[countable] a thin layer of a liquid, especially paint, that is put on a surface The walls were covered with a pale yellow wash. see whitewash
- 5[countable, uncountable] a liquid containing soap, used for cleaning your skin an antiseptic skin wash see mouthwash
- 6a wash (informal) a situation that stays the same because bad and good factors are equal Our earnings are up, but so are our costs, so it's a wash. Idioms
- 1used to say that the truth about a situation will be made known at some time in the future
- 2used to make someone less anxious by telling them that any problems or difficulties will be solved in the future
Check pronunciation: wash