clean slate
A new start; especially to make a new start by clearing the record. This phrase comes from the use of chalk and slates in classrooms in the past. By wiping the slate clean, a student could remove any evidence of a mistake.
Words Nearby clean slate
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
How to use clean slate in a sentence
Well, this is definitely a besmirchment of the much-vaunted clean slate.
Now at college, where she is studying for A-levels in travel and tourism, Davis feels she has “a clean slate.”
Will Jordan Davis Become the First Transgender Miss England? | Tim Teeman | February 28, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTCalifornia and a clean slate beckons to quite a few characters, including Ted, Pete, and Megan.
‘Mad Men’ Creator Matthew Weiner on the Season Finale | Jace Lacob | June 24, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTBut it needs a star—and a clean slate, says David Freedlander.
Riding a 10-match winning streak and a clean slate in 2013, it may finally be Tomic-time.
Tennis Bad Boy Bernard Tomic: The Next Roger Federer? | Sujay Kumar | January 19, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
They were lucky to get through the first half with a clean slate.
Rough-Hewn | Dorothy CanfieldWe begin again with an absolutely clean slate, without a smear upon it!
Three Comedies | Bjrnstjerne M. BjrnsonNature has given us a virgin continent, a clean slate upon which to write what we will.
The Profits of Religion, Fifth Edition | Upton SinclairTo America, with a clean slate and a reposeful conscience; it was more than he had any reasonable right to expect.
The Goose Girl | Harold MacGrathThat is one thing, and another is this: we start with a clean slate on the Red Butte Western.
The Taming of Red Butte Western | Francis Lynde
Other Idioms and Phrases with clean slate
A fresh start; another chance after wiping out old offenses or debts. This idiom often appears as wipe the slate clean. For example, Henry's boss assured him that the matter was finished and he could start with a clean slate, or He wished he could wipe the slate clean, but it was too late to salvage the relationship. This expression alludes to the slate boards on which school work or tavern bills were recorded in easily wiped-off chalk. Since 1850 or so the term has been used figuratively, and it has long outlived the practice of writing on slate.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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