clear

comparative clearer · superlative clearest · alternative abbreviation CLR

1. Transparent in colour.

   as clear as crystal

   Synonyms: pellucid, transparent, clear as crystal, crystalline, diaphanous, glassy, hyaline, hyaloid · Antonyms: opaque, turbid

2. Bright; luminous; not dark or obscured.

   The windshield was clear and clean.

   1 more example

   Congress passed the President’s Clear Skies legislation.

   Antonyms: obscure, adumbral, blear, caliginous, cimmerian, crepuscular, dark, darksome

3. Free of obstacles.

   the coast is clear

   3 more examples

   The driver had mistakenly thought the intersection was clear.

   Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path[…]. It twisted and turned,[…]and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn. And, back of the lawn, was a big, old-fashioned house, with piazzas stretching in front of it, and all blazing with lights. 'Twas the house I'd seen the roof of from the beach.

   1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC

   "[…] On the 18th of October, 1841, a very intense magnetic disturbance was recorded, and amongst other curious facts mentioned is that of the detention of the 10:05pm express train at Exeter for 16 minutes, as from the magnetic disturbance affecting the needles so powerfully, it was impossible to ascertain if the line was clear at Starcross. The superintendent at Exeter reported the next morning that someone was playing tricks with the instruments, and would not let them work."

   2023 November 15, Prof. Jim Wild, “This train was delayed because of bad weather in space”, in RAIL, number 996, page 30

4. Without clouds.

   clear weather; a clear day

   1 more example

   Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes. The clear light of the bright autumn morning had no terrors for youth and health like hers.

   1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

   Synonyms: cloudless, noncloudy, unclouded, uncloudy · Antonyms: cloudy, nebulous, cloudish, cloudlike, cloudly, cloudy, foggy, foglike

5. climatologyOf the sky, such that less than one eighth of its area is obscured by clouds.
6. Free of ambiguity or doubt; easily understood.

   She made it clear that she dislike me.

   5 more examples

   He gave clear instructions not to bother him at work.

   I'm still not quite clear on what some of these words mean.

   From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much.[…] But viewed from high up in one of the growing number of skyscrapers in Sri Lanka’s capital, it is clear that something extraordinary is happening: China is creating a shipping hub just 200 miles from India’s southern tip.

   2013 June 8, “The new masters and commanders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 52

   In several months you’re likely to have a clearer picture on how your state intends to treat your forgiven PPP loan and the deductibility of your business expenses not just for tax year 2020 but also tax year 2021.

   2021 February 23, Jeanne Sahadi, “So you got a PPP loan? Here’s what that means for your state taxes”, in CNN Business

   NR Chairman Sir Peter Hendy had made it clear that he didn't want anything that smacked of the bus shelters seen at many small, usually unstaffed stations.

   2021 June 30, Anthony Lambert, “A railway station fit for the 21st century”, in RAIL, number 934, page 42

   Synonyms: apprehensible, limpid, comprehensible, explainable, explicable, explicatable, fathomable, graspable · Antonyms: abstruse, Chinese, dense, enigmatic, fathomless, bottomless, Greek, inapprehensible

7. Distinct, sharp, well-marked.

   Synonyms: conspicuous, acute, distinct, keen, obvious, sharp, vivid

8. figurativelyFree of guilt, or suspicion.

   a clear conscience

   1 more example

   Statesman, yet friend to truth! in soul sincere, In action faithful, and in honour clear

   1754, Alexander Pope, “Verses occasioned by Mr. Addison's treatise of medals”, in Joseph Addison, Dialogues Upon the Usefulness of Ancient Medals, page 5

   Synonyms: blameless, clean, pure, blameless, clean, clean-handed, clean as a hound's tooth, clean as a whistle

9. Without a thickening ingredient.

   Antonyms: thick

10. Possessing little or no perceptible stimulus.

    clear of texture; clear of odor

11. ScientologyFree from the influence of engrams; see Clear (Scientology).

    Yes, and Jane came by with a lock of your hair. She said that you gave it to her that night that you planned to go clear. Did you ever go clear?

    1971, Leonard Cohen, Famous Blue Raincoat

12. Able to perceive straightforwardly; keen; acute; penetrating; discriminating.

    a clear intellect; a clear head

    1 more example

    Mother of Science, Now I feel thy Power Within me cleere, not onely to diſcerne Things in thir Cauſes, but to trace the wayes Of higheſt Agents

    1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC

13. Not clouded with passion; serene; cheerful.

    with a countenance as clear / As friendship wears at feasts

    c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]

14. Easily or distinctly heard; audible.

    Hark! the numbers, soft and clear Gently steal upon the ear

    c. 1708, Alexander Pope, Ode On St. Cecilia's Day

    Synonyms: audible, hearable

15. Unmixed; entirely pure.

    clear sand

    Synonyms: homogeneous

16. Without defects or blemishes, such as freckles or knots.

    a clear complexion; clear lumber

    1 more example

    high school girls with clear-skinned smiles

    1975, Janis Ian, “At Seventeen”

17. Without diminution; in full; net.

    a clear profit

    1 more example

    I often wished that I had clear For life, six hundred pounds a year

    1728, Jonathan Swift, Horace, Lib. 2, Sat. 6

18. Showing a green aspect, allowing a train to proceed past it.

    The signals were clear to allow the train through Soham, as it steadily approached.

    2022 January 12, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in RAIL, number 948, page 42

19. Multicultural London EnglishGood, the best.

    Nando's is clear.

20. CommonwealthIrelandUKespeciallyhobbiesBetter than, superior to. (usually with points, votes, etc.)

    Spurs are clear of Arsenal.

alternative abbreviation CLR

1. informalnot comparableAll the way; entirely.

   I threw it clear across the river to the other side.

2. not comparableNot near something or touching it.

   Stand clear of the rails, a train is coming.

3. not comparableFree (or separate) from others.

   Much soul-searching is going on at the west London club who, just seven weeks ago, were five points clear at the top of the table and playing with the verve with which they won the title last season.

   2010 December 29, Chris Whyatt, “Chelsea 1 - 0 Bolton”, in BBC

4. not comparableIn a clear manner; plainly.

   Then I heard clear your mother's voice, crying out in distress!

   2009, Stephen James Shore, Annalea A Princess in Exile, page 160

   5 more examples

   Now clear I understand What oft my steadiest thoughts have searched in vain

   1667, John Milton, “Book XII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC

   I want you to know how he spoke: he spoke loud, and he spoke clear.

   1988, Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses

   Can't they see for themselves? Course not. Looks like dust to them, so they can't see it clear at all

   1992, Orson Scott Card, Cruel Miracles

   I would get very short with people and speak clear of my feelings without consideration of their feelings.

   2005, Sammatha Crosby Scott, There's a War Inside of Me, page 111

   Now when God called him, Moses told God immediately that he could not speak clear enough to be this leader.

   2010, Jack Mayatt, A Better Man: An Inspirational Book, page 20

present singular third person clears · participle present clearing · participle past cleared · past cleared · alternative abbreviation CLR

1. transitiveTo remove obstructions, impediments or other unwanted items from.

   If you clear the table, I'll wash up.

   5 more examples

   Police took two hours to clear the road.

   “A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron; and she looked it, always trim and trig and smooth of surface like a converted yacht cleared for action. Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable,[…].

   1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter IX, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC

   Faith, Dick, I muſt confeſs, ’tis true (But this is only Entre Nous) That many knotty Points there are, Which All diſcuſs, but Few can clear.

   1715–8, Matthew Prior, “Alma: or, The Progreſs of the Mind” in Poems on Several Occaſions (1741), canto III, p.297

   ‘Children crawled over each other like little grey worms in the gutters,’ he said. ‘The only red things about them were their buttocks and they were raw. Their faces looked as if snails had slimed on them and their mothers were like great sick beasts whose byres had never been cleared.[…]’

   1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 7, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC

   Since the mid-1980s, when Indonesia first began to clear its bountiful forests on an industrial scale in favour of lucrative palm-oil plantations, “haze” has become an almost annual occurrence in South-East Asia. The cheapest way to clear logged woodland is to burn it, producing an acrid cloud of foul white smoke that, carried by the wind, can cover hundreds, or even thousands, of square miles.

   2013 June 29, “Unspontaneous combustion”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 29

2. transitiveTo remove (items or material) so as to leave something unobstructed or open.

   The loggers came and cleared the trees.

   3 more examples

   Please clear all this stuff off the table.

   […] Aristotle has brought to explain his Doctrine of Substantial Forms, when he tells us that a Statue lies hid in a Block of Marble; and that the Art of the statuary only clears away the superfluous Matter, and removes the Rubbish.

   1711 November 6, Joseph Addison, The Spectator, number 215

   Clear a temperate forest and it comes back quickly.

   1990 August, Boyd Gibbons, “Missouri's Garden of Consequence”, in National Geographic, volume 178, number 2, page 131

   Synonyms: stub

3. intransitiveTo leave abruptly; to clear off or clear out.

   Then the whole population cleared into the forest, expecting all kinds of calamities to happen, while, on the other hand, the steamer Fresleven commanded left also in a bad panic, in charge of the engineer, I believe.

   1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 199

4. intransitiveTo become free from obstruction or obscurement; to become transparent.

   When the road cleared we continued our journey.

   2 more examples

   After a heavy rain, the sky cleared nicely for the evening.

   Shake the test tube well, and the liquid should slowly clear.

5. transitiveTo eliminate ambiguity or doubt from (a matter); to clarify or resolve; to clear up.

   We need to clear this issue once and for all.

6. transitiveTo remove from suspicion, especially of having committed a crime.

   The court cleared the man of murder.

   2 more examples

   […] yet I appeal to the reader, and am sure he will clear me from Partiality.

   1713, John Dryden, “Preface”, in Fables Antient and Modern

   How! Wouldst thou clear rebellion?

   1713, Joseph Addison, Cato, a Tragedy, act III, scene v

   Synonyms: absolve, exonerate, vindicate, acquittance, assoil, assoilzie, acquit, absolve

7. transitiveTo pass without interference; to miss.

   The leaping horse easily cleared the hurdles.

   2 more examples

   The door just barely clears the table as it closes.

   If we stay on this course we should clear the buoy.

8. transitiveactivities such as jumping or throwingTo exceed a stated mark.

   She was the first female high jumper to clear two metres.

9. transitivevideo gamesTo finish or complete (a stage, challenge, or game).

   I cleared the first level in 36 seconds.

10. intransitiveOf a check or financial transaction, to go through as payment; to be processed so that the money is transferred.

    The check might not clear for a couple of days.

11. transitivebusinessTo earn a profit of; to net.

    He's been clearing seven thousand a week.

    1 more example

    The profit which she cleared on the cargo […] cannot be estimated at less than a thousand guineas.

    1843, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume I, chapter V

12. transitiveTo approve or authorise for a particular purpose or action; to give clearance to.

    Air traffic control cleared the plane to land.

    1 more example

    The marketing department has cleared the press release for publication.

13. transitiveTo obtain approval or authorisation in respect of.

    The plane has been cleared for landing.

    1 more example

    I've cleared the press release with the marketing department, so go ahead and publish it.

14. intransitiveTo obtain a clearance.

    The steamer cleared for Liverpool today.

15. transitiveTo obtain permission to use (a sample of copyrighted audio) in another track.
16. To disengage oneself from incumbrances, distress, or entanglements; to become free.

    Beſides, he that cleares at once will relapſe: for finding himſelfe out of ſtraights, he will reuert to his cuſtomes. But hee that cleareth by degrees, induceth an habite of frugality, and gaineth as well vpon his minde, as vpon his Eſtate.

    1613, Francis Bacon, The Eſſaies (second edition), essay 18: “Of Expences”

17. intransitivetransitivehobbiesTo hit, kick, head, punch etc. (a ball, puck) away in order to defend one's goal.

    A low cross came in, and Smith cleared.

    2 more examples

    The goalkeeper rushed forward to clear the ball.

    Bolton then went even closer when Elmander's cross was met by a bullet header from Holden, which forced a wonderful tip over from Cech before Drogba then cleared the resulting corner off the line.

    2010 December 29, Chris Whyatt, “Chelsea 1-0 Bolton”, in BBC

18. transitivecomputingTo reset or unset; to return to an empty state or to zero.

    to clear an array;  to clear a single bit (binary digit) in a value

19. transitivecomputingTo style (an element within a document) so that it is not permitted to float at a given position.

    To get the footer acting right, you need to float it and clear it on both margins.

    2010, Andy Harris, HTML, XHTML and CSS All-In-One For Dummies, page 290

20. transitiveengineeringTo unload a firearm, or undergo an unloading procedure, in order to prevent negligent discharge; for safety reasons, to check whether one's firearm is loaded or unloaded.

    To prevent any shooting accidents, remember to clear your pistol and stay aware of your surroundings.

plural clears · alternative abbreviation CLR

1. Empty or open area.

   The deer were standing in the clear.

2. businessFull extent; distance between extreme limits; especially; the distance between the nearest surfaces of two bodies, or the space between walls.

   a room ten feet square in the clear

3. video gamesThe completion of a stage or challenge, or of the whole game.

   It took me weeks to achieve a one-credit clear (1CC).

4. ScientologyA person who is free from the influence of engrams.

   Today, clear status can be conferred only by high ranking ministers of the church, and clears are not presented for examination by outsiders.

   1985, Rodney Stark, William Sims Bainbridge, The Future of Religion, page 269

   1 more example

   Neither of them had heard of Kelly or Kalki, but then neither of them had heard of Horace, Alexander Pope, [Blaise] Pascal, [Denis] Diderot, [Werner] Heisenberg’s law or entropy. Their lives were spent, successfully, repelling information. They were perfect “clears,” to use Scientologist jargon.

   1978, Gore Vidal, chapter 2, in Kalki: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →ISBN, page 18

1. uncountableScientologyAn idea state of beingness free of unwanted influences.