Are cleansing and cleanser old-fashion words, I mean anything wrong with them?
cleansing the bowel before colonoscopy
household cleansers
cleansing the bowel before colonoscopy
household cleansers
Cleansing
- Thread starter boron
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To my American ear, cleanse implies a cleaning which is more thorough, although in literal terms it just means to clean. It's the word of choice when discussing the bowel. I'm seeing a small shift away from the term household cleansers toward cleaning products.
Maryn
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Yes, cleansing being more thorough makes sense; merely cleaning the bowel before colonoscopy wouldn't be enough.
To me, cleansing seems more like removal which is done passively by an agent (No not 007, although that might make a good name for a product. New 007--it has a license to cleanse.) whereas cleaning strikes me as something requiring physical labor to accomplish. Don't know why it feels that way to me.
I'm not sure what you mean here. Clean is an adjective and a verb, even without the s.
As for the OP, cleanse makes me think of a procedure. It makes me think of health and beauty products or even spiritual cleansing. Something in-depth.
Clean (clæne, cognate of German klein) is originally an adjective. Somewhere around the 15th century it became a verb, usurping the verb Cleanse (clænsian.)
I often hear "cleansing" used together with "purging," so it does seem to have more of a connotation of thoroughness than cleaning. More along the lines of purifying or completely emptying something.
It's a difference of register, rather than archaic; cleansing is more formal--hence it's typically used in medical writing, or religious contexts.
The 's' is a mystery, but it makes the word more interesting. There are dry cleaners in the Greater Boston area that call themselves "cleansers". I especially liked the name "Meadow Cleansers". I decided that when I need to have a meadow cleansed, then I would contact that company.
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You can cleanse your conscience like washing your hands, but you cannot 'clean' your conscience.