How to Use cleanly in a Sentence

cleanly

adverb
  • A sharp knife will cut through the skin of a tomato cleanly.
  • This fuel burns more cleanly than other fuels.
  • The ball caromed off the back of the iron, bounced, hit the side rim and dropped cleanly through the net.
    Darren Sabedra, The Mercury News, 1 Mar. 2024
  • This will shock the egg, which helps the shell peel off more cleanly.
    Lisa Cericola, Southern Living, 5 Feb. 2024
  • De La Salle couldn’t field the ball cleanly and the throw to first base went high.
    Nathan Canilao, The Mercury News, 16 Mar. 2024
  • Javier Báez bounced a grounder back to Doval, who failed to pick up the ball cleanly.
    Evan Petzold, Detroit Free Press, 24 Aug. 2022
  • Spin the wheel to the left and keep moving to straighten out your car and put it cleanly in the space.
    Robert Klose, The Christian Science Monitor, 11 July 2022
  • Muncy fielded it cleanly and threw to first, but the ball sailed on him.
    Jack Harris, Los Angeles Times, 27 Apr. 2022
  • But the Bulldogs failed to field the punt cleanly, and Koby Gates was there to scoop up the loose ball at the Bears’ 42.
    Jim Martinez, San Antonio Express-News, 18 Nov. 2022
  • This will allow the masa to settle so the tamales will cleanly release from the husk.
    Pati Jinich, Washington Post, 13 Dec. 2022
  • Gavin Sheets hit a grounder to first that Torkelson couldn’t cleanly field.
    Lamond Pope, Chicago Tribune, 8 July 2022
  • Hops and malts are balanced, and the latter comes through cleanly.
    cleveland, 3 Apr. 2022
  • The Beavers’ infield was playing in on the play and Forrester fielded the grounder cleanly and went home with the ball.
    Joe Freeman, oregonlive, 29 May 2022
  • After a couple of steps out of the box, Robert picked up his speed when Michael Massey didn’t field the ball cleanly.
    Lamond Pope, Chicago Tribune, 12 Aug. 2022
  • Mora fielded the ball cleanly, but missed the bag in his haste to record the out, and Morgan scored the game-winner.
    Creg Stephenson | [email protected], al, 8 Apr. 2023
  • Things went poorly for UConn even when Caratan had time to release the ball cleanly.
    Michael Cohen, Detroit Free Press, 17 Sep. 2022
  • But perhaps not as quickly or cleanly as the Fed would like.
    Simon Moore, Forbes, 10 Feb. 2024
  • Scrap all that, because Morris’ shot did swish cleanly through the net.
    Ron Kroichick, San Francisco Chronicle, 17 Feb. 2022
  • The cleanly cut patterns are as precise as the applied pigment is loose and smeary.
    Mark Jenkins, Washington Post, 24 June 2022
  • Later in the inning, with the bases loaded and the infield drawn in, Reynolds cleanly fielded a grounder at shortstop and threw to the plate.
    Bobby Nightengale, The Enquirer, 16 July 2022
  • Your knife should always be sharp enough to slice through a soft, ripe tomato cleanly.
    Marcus Samuelsson, Bon Appétit, 26 Nov. 2022
  • Cambridge took one dribble and launched a prayer from behind half court that swished cleanly through the net.
    Lindsay Schnell, USA TODAY, 26 Feb. 2023
  • Shortstop Elvis Andrus, moving to his left to field it, reached back to his right and could not get to it cleanly.
    Matt Kawahara, San Francisco Chronicle, 12 June 2022
  • Reduce mixer speed to low and beat in flour mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough forms a ball and pulls cleanly away from the sides of the bowl.
    Lyda Jones Burnette, Country Living, 8 Sep. 2023
  • Slice cleanly: For the cleanest slices, dip your knife in hot water and wipe off between cuts.
    John Somerall, Southern Living, 24 Nov. 2023
  • Next, wind sections of hair around the rollers, ensuring ends are polished and cleanly wrapped and hair is rolled away from the face.
    Calin Van Paris, Vogue, 26 Sep. 2023
  • The process also ran cleanly, with any risk of overflow contained by the locking lid.
    Rena Behar, Better Homes & Gardens, 20 June 2023
  • Just imagine if Morris’ shot bounces off the back rim instead of swishing cleanly through the net.
    Ron Kroichick, San Francisco Chronicle, 17 Feb. 2022
  • The parchment should pull off cleanly after the cake has been inverted.
    Southern Living Test Kitchen, Southern Living, 17 July 2023
  • If McIntyre loses both of those matches and does so cleanly?
    Blake Oestriecher, Forbes, 16 Feb. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cleanly.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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