sweeping

American  

[swee-ping] / ˈswi pɪŋ /

adjective

1. of wide range or scope.

   Synonyms:

   comprehensive, broad, extensive

2. moving or passing about over a wide area.

   a sweeping glance.

3. moving, driving, or passing steadily and forcibly on.

4. (of the outcome of a contest) decisive; overwhelming; complete.

   a sweeping victory.

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noun

1. the act of a person or thing that sweeps. sweeps. sweep.

2. sweepings, matter swept swept sweep out or up, as dust, refuse, etc.

sweeping British  

/ ˈswiːpɪŋ /

adjective

1. comprehensive and wide-ranging

   sweeping reforms

2. indiscriminate or without reservations

   sweeping statements

3. decisive or overwhelming

   a sweeping victory

4. taking in a wide area

   a sweeping glance

5. driving steadily onwards, esp over a large area

   a sweeping attack

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Other Word Forms

• sweepingly adverb
• sweepingness noun

Etymology

Origin of sweeping

First recorded in 1470–80; sweep ¹ + -ing ², -ing ¹

Example Sentences

It’s a beautiful hotel with art in the lobby and a rooftop with sweeping 360-degree views.

From Salon

Pick up a sweeping brush, even if no one asked you to.

From MarketWatch

The coffee squeeze is emblematic of a broader malaise sweeping office life at American companies, which appear to be in a race to find inefficiencies and cut costs.

From The Wall Street Journal

In his annual year-end message, he approvingly quoted from an 1876 speech by Susan B. Anthony in which the women’s-rights pioneer endorsed a sweeping vision of the Constitution’s citizenship guarantee.

From The Wall Street Journal

In 1890, at Gravelines, just north of Calais, he painted four spare, gloriously luminous views that capture its canal’s sweeping vistas and endless skies, and all of them are here.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• across-the-board
• all-encompassing
• broad
• comprehensive
• exhaustive
• extensive
• radical
• thorough
• wholesale