one fell swoop, in

Idioms  

1. Also at one fell swoop. All at once, in a single action, as in This law has lifted all the controls on cable TV in one fell swoop. This term was used and probably invented by Shakespeare in Macbeth (4:3), where the playwright likens the murder of Macduff's wife and children to a hawk swooping down on defenseless prey. Although fell here means “cruel” or “ruthless,” this meaning has been lost in the current idiom, where it now signifies “sudden.”

2. see one fell swoop.

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Example Sentences

The Angels, who still have to fill the role of bench coach, will likely announce their 2020 coaching staff in one fell swoop in November.

From Los Angeles Times

Perhaps U.S. lawmakers should just stop trying for “tax reform,” the idea that the system can be fixed in one fell swoop in a repeat of the bipartisan magic of 1986, said Jared Bernstein, a former economic adviser to Vice President Joe Biden.

From The Wall Street Journal

You can play that withdrawal from Hoth — turning it into a canonically correct victory, or helping the Empire crush the Rebel scum in one fell swoop — in Star Wars: Battlefront.

From The Verge

“In one fell swoop, in 10 minutes, we got the image, we knew: Everything changed.”

From The Wall Street Journal

“Narcissism, ambition, insecurity and the wages of celebrity are addressed in one fell swoop in ‘Birdman,’ which Iñárritu and his longtime cinematographer, Emmanuel Lubezki, have filmed to resemble one long, unbroken take — a stunt that results in a film of delicate, even balletic, grace and one that poetically captures Thomson’s own state of mind.”

From Washington Post