clean sweep
Americannoun
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an overwhelming or decisive victory, as by a political candidate who wins in all or almost all election districts.
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the winning of all the prizes, rounds, contests, etc., in a competition or of all the games in a series.
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a thorough or sweeping change, especially one effected by the large-scale removal or elimination of unwanted persons or things.
The new president made a clean sweep when he joined the company, replacing all the department heads.
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.
Nvidia’s sales growth isn’t slowing soon, but round two of the AI hardware battle—the inference phase—might not be the clean sweep for Nvidia that round one was.
From Barron's • Mar. 18, 2026
It all looked so different from the newer league table format, which led to a clean sweep of Premier League teams, giving rise to suggestions they could dominate the latter stages.
From BBC • Mar. 11, 2026
Germany were close to earning a clean sweep on the podium - their second of the week after doing so in the two-man event - but Switzerland swept in to take a surprise bronze.
From BBC • Feb. 22, 2026
Gu, 22, came to the Games in Italy targeting a clean sweep of golds in her three events after winning two golds and a silver at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
From Barron's • Feb. 19, 2026
The deep ruts in the road were frozen and glazed with ice; the wind had a clean sweep across the prairies, a sweep that sometimes seemed about to carry Jethro before it.
From "Across Five Aprils" by Irene Hunt
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.
