- [countable, usually singular] an act of cleaning a room, surface, etc. using a broom
- Give the room a good sweep.
Definitions on the go
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- [countable] a smooth curving movement
- He indicated the door with a sweep of his arm.
Extra Examples- He dismissed his assistant with a grandiose sweep of his hand.
- (figurative) Thousands of jobs were lost in one broad sweep.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- great
- long
- wide
- …
- make
- take
- in one sweep
- with a sweep
- [countable, usually singular] a long, often curved, piece of road, river, coast, etc.
- the broad sweep of white cliffs around the bay
Extra Examples- The house overlooks the great sweep of the St Lawrence River.
- An elegant sweep of lawn led up to the house.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- great
- long
- wide
- …
- make
- take
- in one sweep
- with a sweep
- [uncountable] the range of an idea, a piece of writing, etc. that considers many different things
- Her book covers the long sweep of the country's history.
- the broad cultural sweep of Flaubert's novel
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- great
- long
- wide
- …
- make
- take
- in one sweep
- with a sweep
- [countable] a movement over an area, for example in order to search for something or attack something
- The rescue helicopter made another sweep over the bay.
Extra Examples- Her eyes made a comprehensive sweep of the room.
- We made a wide sweep south to the River Dee.
- (also chimney sweep)[countable] a person whose job is to clean the inside of chimneysTopics Jobsc2
- [countable] (North American English also sweeps)(informal) a sweepstake (= a type of betting in which the winner gets all the money bet by everyone else)
- [countable] (North American English) a series of games that a team wins against another team; the fact of winning all the parts of a contest
- a World Series sweep
- the sweeps[plural] (North American English) a time when television companies examine their programmes to find out which ones are the most popular, especially in order to calculate advertising rates
- the May ratings sweeps
with brush
curving movement
landscape
range
movement/search over area
chimney
gambling
in sport
television
Word OriginOld English swāpan (verb), of Germanic origin; related to German schweifen ‘sweep in a curve’.
Idioms
See sweep in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee sweep in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English(make) a clean sweep (of something)
- to remove all the people or things from an organization that are thought to be unnecessary or need changing
- The new manager made a clean sweep of the department.
- to win all the prizes or parts of a game or competition; to win an election completely
- China made a clean sweep of the medals in the gymnastics events.
- The opinion poll suggests a clean sweep for the Democrats.
Check pronunciation:
sweep