come clean
(redirected from we are coming clean)come clean
To admit something to someone, often regarding a wrongdoing that one has tried to hide. We have to come clean with the police before Joe gets punished for our crime! The kids finally came clean about eating the cookies I'd made for the bake sale.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2015 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
come clean (with someone) (about something)
Fig. to be honest with somebody about something. I want you to come clean with me about your financial status. Sam will come clean with me. I know he will.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
come clean
Confess everything, as in If you come clean about what happened I will promise to keep it to myself. [Slang; early 1900s]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
come clean
COMMON If you come clean about something, you tell the truth about it. I had expected her to come clean and confess that she only wrote these books for the money. It is now time for the Government to come clean, tell the world exactly how the recent tragedy happened and announce an investigation.
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012
come clean
be completely honest and frank. informalFarlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
come ˈclean (with somebody) (about something)
(informal) tell the truth about something, especially after lying or keeping it secret: I’ll come clean with you — I’ve been reading your mail. ♢ He finally came clean and confessed.Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
come clean
verbMcGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
come clean
To confess all.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
come clean, to
To tell the whole truth, to confess. A slangy Americanism dating from the early twentieth century, it most often appeared in crime novels and pertained to confessing guilt. Listed in a collection of argot published in 1919, the term became a cliché through its overuse in murder mysteries. P. G. Wodehouse played on it in Sam the Sudden (1925): “You’d best come clean, Soapy, and have a showdown.”
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer