clean sweep

1. A large-scale removal of unwanted people or objects to expedite change. In an effort to save the company, the new CEO made a clean sweep and replaced everyone in the finance department. Wow, the garage looks completely different after our big clean sweep! This is a serious scandal, so we need to talk about making a clean sweep at City Hall.

2. A victory by a large margin, especially one in which the opposing side accumulated none or a very small fraction of the votes, points, etc., required to win. Used especially in politics. The election was a clean sweep for the senator, who won in nearly every county. My team achieved a clean sweep at the national mathematics competition. The final score was 17–1? Yikes, that sure was a clean sweep by the other team!

make a clean sweep

1. To initiate a large-scale removal of unwanted people or objects, especially as a means of effecting or expediting change. In an effort to save the company, the board of directors is making a clean sweep of all upper management. The garage is such a mess. We need to make a clean sweep and throw all this old junk out!

2. To achieve victory easily and by a large margin, especially one in which the opposing side accumulated none or a very small fraction of the votes, points, etc., required to win. Used especially in politics. The senator made a clean sweep of the election, winning every county in her region. My team made a clean sweep at the national mathematics competition.

clean sweep

a broad movement clearing or affecting everything in its pathway. The manager and everybody in accounting got fired in a clean sweep of that department. Everybody got a pay rise. It was a clean sweep.

clean sweep

n. a broad movement clearing or affecting everything in the pathway. (Usually figurative.) Everybody got a raise. It was a clean sweep.

clean sweep, (make) a

Get rid of anything or anyone old, extraneous, unwanted. The term often refers to new officeholders who are extremely zealous about making a completely new start. It probably came from the much older locution, “New broom sweeps clean,” quoted in John Heywood’s proverb collection of 1546 and repeated often over the years, but now virtually obsolete.