clean sweep

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clean sweep

noun clean sweeps

  1. A complete or overwhelming victory, especially one in which all or almost all possible electoral contests are won. In November 1928, as the beneficiaries of this revulsion, the Liberals made a clean sweep of every seat on the borough council.
  2. The winning, by a person or team, of all the possible possible prizes, games, rounds or contests, etc in a competition, season or series. Scott Russell, who had sewn up the Yokohama 750cc Supersport championship earlier in the year, completed a clean sweep of the series races with his ninth victory in Miami.

    Similar: podium sweep

  3. figuratively A thorough change of policies, personnel or objects, removing or replacing all or almost all of that which existed previously. These were unfortunate selections and Mr. Quincy, who had the consular appointments in charge, so made an almost clean sweep in that branch of the service, removing Republicans and putting Democrats in with “unprecedented vivacity.”

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noun overwhelming success

Italianopiazza pulita

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MLA

"clean sweep." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/clean%20sweep. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

clean sweep. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/clean%20sweep

Chicago

"clean sweep." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/clean%20sweep.

BibTeX
@misc{clean_sweep_2026,
  title = {clean sweep},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/clean%20sweep},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}