different between clearer vs cleaner

English

Etymology

clear +? -er

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?kl???/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?kl????/
• Rhymes: -????(?)
• Hyphenation: clear?er

Noun

clearer (plural clearers)

1. Someone who or something which clears.

   • Gold is a wonderful clearer of the understanding.

   1. (mining) An unskilled labourer who clears away the rubbish etc.
2. A tool by which the hemp for lines and twines, used by sailmakers, is finished.

Adjective

clearer

1. comparative form of clear: more clear

Anagrams

• reclear

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?kli.n?/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?kli?.n?/
• Rhymes: -i?n?(?)

Etymology 1

clean +? -er (“agent noun”)

Noun

cleaner (plural cleaners)

1. A person whose occupation is to clean floors, windows and other things.
2. A device that cleans, such as the vacuum cleaner.
3. A substance used for cleaning, a cleaning agent.
4. (in the plural) A professional laundry or dry cleaner (business). (This form is now interpreted as plural and usually spelled without an apostrophe, even in official usage, to justify the removal of the apostrophe. It was traditionally spelled cleaner's with an apostrophe because this is grammatically correct, as can be seen with forms such as go to the doctor's, which cannot be reinterpreted as plural.)

   I'll have to take this shirt to the cleaners.

5. (slang) A hitman; a hired assassin, usually in the employ of an organized crime syndicate, such as the mafia.

Derived terms

• cleaner fish
• vacuum cleaner

Related terms

• (sense 3) cleanser
• take to the cleaners

Translations

Etymology 2

clean + -er

Adjective

cleaner

1. comparative form of clean: more clean

Anagrams

• Carlene, reclean