linen
Americannoun
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fabric woven from flax yarns.
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Often linens. bedding, tablecloths, shirts, etc., made of linen cloth or a more common substitute, as cotton.
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yarn made of flax fiber.
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thread made of flax yarns.
adjective
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made of linen.
a linen jacket.
idioms
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wash one's dirty linen in public, to discuss in public one's private scandals, disagreements, or difficulties.
noun
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a hard-wearing fabric woven from the spun fibres of flax
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( as modifier )
a linen tablecloth
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yarn or thread spun from flax fibre
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clothes, sheets, tablecloths, etc, made from linen cloth or from a substitute such as cotton
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See linen paper
Other Word Forms
- half-linen adjective
- lineny adjective
- underlinen noun
Etymology
Origin of linen
before 900; Middle English lin ( n ) en (noun, adj.), Old English linnen, līnen (adj.) made of flax, equivalent to līn flax (< Latin līnum; line 2 ) + -en -en 2
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
I’m told linen suits will be coming in soon in the pastel colors I’m looking for.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 13, 2026
But he warned: "The linen backing is weakened by age, and the wool embroidery threads are vulnerable to stress."
From Barron's • Jan. 15, 2026
Until then, all kinds of designs were patched together from silk, linen, wool or “anything at hand.”
From Salon • Jan. 3, 2026
He opted for one that evokes “clean linen with a hint of tropical.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 24, 2025
Leonardo could have passed her, swaddled in white linen, on the street.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.