cleanly

Cleanly is an adverb in English that describes performing an action in a clean, neat, or thorough manner. It can refer to physical cleanliness, to precision, or to completeness, as in cutting something cleanly or defeating an opponent cleanly.

Origin: Cleanly derives from the adjective clean with the suffix -ly, forming an adverb. Its sense of doing something without mess or with precision is attested in Middle English, with usages appearing by the 14th century.

Usage notes: Cleanly is most often used to describe actions performed without leaving residue or with exactness. Common collocations include cut cleanly, hit cleanly, and win cleanly. It can also describe an action done completely or decisively, as in a cleanly executed maneuver or a cleanly won victory.

In modern writing, cleanly contrasts with adverbs such as neatly or perfectly and tends to emphasize thoroughness and lack of mess rather than stylistic polish. While it overlaps with synonyms like neatly in some contexts, cleanly emphasizes a sense of precision or finality, and is frequently used in physical, mechanical, or performance-related descriptions.