laundry list
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English
Pronunciation
Audio (General Australian): (file)
Noun
laundry list (plural laundry lists)
- (archaic) Originally, a list of articles of clothing that had been sent to be laundered.
- 1920, Scouting for Girls: Official Handbook of the Girl Scouts, First Edition, The Girl Scouts, Inc., page 126:
- Learn how to make out a laundry list and to check it when the laundry comes home.
- 1920, Scouting for Girls: Official Handbook of the Girl Scouts, First Edition, The Girl Scouts, Inc., page 126:
- (idiomatic, by extension) A long and often tedious list of items.
- Synonym: litany
- 2007 July 31, Ceri Au, “Fighting for the Right to Flush”, in Time:
- Among the laundry list of inconveniences most of us can't abide: cold coffee, airport delays, the high price of gasoline.
- 2013 October 31, Rowena Mason, quoting David Steel, “Lord Steel criticises culture of spin and tweeting in modern politics”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
- The senior Liberal Democrat, echoing the private views of other senior figures across parties, said a daily "laundry list" sent out by the party headquarters contributes to the "diminution of individual expression or even thought in politics" as politicians are expected to repeat a positive central message over and over again.
- (colloquial) An unrealistic list of skills, qualifications and experiences, as demanded by employers when hiring staff.
- (colloquial, by extension) An equally unrealistic skill set claimed by a candidate on a résumé.
See also
- (generally): laundry mark, checklist, shopping list, to-do list
- (unrealistic list of skills): purple squirrel, unicorn