sweeping
Americanadjective
-
of wide range or scope.
- Synonyms:
- comprehensive, broad, extensive
-
moving or passing about over a wide area.
a sweeping glance.
-
moving, driving, or passing steadily and forcibly on.
-
(of the outcome of a contest) decisive; overwhelming; complete.
a sweeping victory.
adjective
-
comprehensive and wide-ranging
sweeping reforms
-
indiscriminate or without reservations
sweeping statements
-
decisive or overwhelming
a sweeping victory
-
taking in a wide area
a sweeping glance
-
driving steadily onwards, esp over a large area
a sweeping attack
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of sweeping
Explanation
Something that's sweeping is wide-ranging or thorough. A political candidate might campaign on promises to bring sweeping change to a country. Sweeping things can be extensive, like the sweeping powers a president has in a dictatorship, or curving, like the sweeping motion a dancer makes with his arm. Sweeping can also mean "overly broad," so if you make a sweeping generalization, you take a general idea or rule and apply it too widely, without allowing any exceptions to it.
Vocabulary lists containing sweeping
Spy School
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Lesson 5
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The Lion of Mars
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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.
See Examples For:
Just this week, Trump slapped sweeping new tariffs on 60 trading partners and saw 25-percent duties take effect on Brazilian products.
From Barron's ● Jul. 24, 2026
“Those concerns should be addressed through targeted legal and commercial frameworks rather than sweeping restrictions on techniques that play an important role in AI innovation.”
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026
The songs that emerged revealed new textures in his arrangements and a sweeping genre range, yet also his most deliciously crass humor.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
The disaster led to sweeping reforms in aviation safety, including compulsory pre-flight safety briefings on every commercial flight.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
Abby stepped with him, her eyes sweeping the trees ahead.
From "Earthquake Terror" by Peg Kehret
In a statement Banksy jokes: "While the unauthorised Banksy shows might look like sweepings from my studio floor, CUT & RUN really is the actual sweepings from my studio floor."
From BBC ● Jun. 15, 2023
But sweepings demands for a more equitable society were left for later.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 15, 2020
“The paper of ‘A sketch of the viscera,’ c.1515–16, contains fragments of wood chips, hair, wool and insect parts, possibly sweepings from the mill floor,” explains the Royal Collection, in its statement.
From Fox News ● Jan. 29, 2019
It was like mild Ovaltine mixed with floor sweepings.
From New York Times ● May 25, 2017
Scarcely knowing where he stepped, he blundered his way to the far end of the courtyard and spread his sweepings on a sun-warmed sheep hide to dry.
From "The Golden Goblet" by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
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.
