What does "sweep" mean?
A single action of sweeping.
Sweep
/swiːp/ noun, verb
noun, verb ·Top 500 ·Elementary level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A single action of sweeping.
- Grammar: sweep is listed as noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: aberrancy, aberration, advance, airscape.
- Useful contrasts: unswept, contaminate, dirt.
- Usage evidence: If each would sweep before the door, we should have a clean city.
How to use "sweep"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "sweep" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "sweep" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "sweep" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "sweep" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "sweep" is acting as noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "aberrancy" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "sweep", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A single action of sweeping.
"Give the front steps a quick sweep to get rid of those fallen leaves."
- 2 a movement in an arc wordnet
- 3 The person who steers a dragon boat.
- 4 (American football) an attempt to advance the ball by running around the end of the line wordnet
- 5 A person who stands at the stern of a surf boat, steering with a steering oar and commanding the crew.
Show 25 more definitions
- 6 a long oar used in an open boat wordnet
- 7 A chimney sweep.
"He was, perhaps, the English railwayman's conception of the French mécanicien - short and broad, black as a sweep even before we left Calais (but no blacker than I was on arrival at Paris) and wearing goggles and his uniform cap back to front."
- 8 a wide scope wordnet
- 9 A methodical search, typically for bugs (electronic listening devices).
- 10 winning all or all but one of the tricks in bridge wordnet
- 11 A batsman's shot, played from a kneeling position with a swinging horizontal bat.
"Bradman attempted a sweep, but in fact top edged the ball to the wicket keeper"
- 12 someone who cleans soot from chimneys wordnet
- 13 A lottery, usually on the results of a sporting event, where players win if their randomly chosen team wins.
"Jim will win fifty dollars in the office sweep if Japan wins the World Cup."
- 14 A flow of water parallel to shore caused by wave action at an ocean beach or at a point or headland.
- 15 The degree to which an aircraft's wings are angled backwards (or, occasionally, forwards) from their attachments to the fuselage.
"The MiG-17's inner wing has 45 degrees of sweep."
- 16 A throw or takedown that primarily uses the legs to attack an opponent's legs.
- 17 Violent and general destruction.
"the sweep of an epidemic disease"
- 18 A movable template for making moulds, in loam moulding.
- 19 In the game casino, the act of capturing all face-up cards from the table.
- 20 The compass of any turning body or of any motion.
"the sweep of a door; the sweep of the eye"
- 21 Direction or departure of a curve, a road, an arch, etc. away from a rectilinear line.
"the road which makes a small sweep"
- 22 A large oar used in small vessels, partly to propel them and partly to steer them.
"I intend to muffle the sweeps and row the schooner up to the head of the creek there, from which point we can command the pile of sandal-wood with our gun."
- 23 A rowing style in which each rower rows with oar on either the port or starboard side. attributive
"I am primarily a sweep rower."
- 24 The almond furnace. obsolete
- 25 A long pole, or piece of timber, moved on a horizontal fulcrum fixed to a tall post and used to raise and lower a bucket in a well for drawing water.
- 26 Any of the blades of a windmill.
- 27 The sweepings of workshops where precious metals are worked, containing filings, etc. in-plural
- 28 Any of several sea chubs in the family Kyphosidae (subfamily Scorpidinae).
"Octopus clambered about from hole to hole and startled sweep blurred away as we passed."
- 29 An expanse or a swath, a strip of land.
"The Himalaya guards the southern rim of the plateau in one continuous sweep of 2250 km, each end marked by a massive mountain, Nanga Parbat on the Indus in the west and Namjagbarwa at the great bend of the Yarlung Tsangpo in the east."
- 30 singular of sweeps (“viewership ratings”) US, form-of, singular
"A proposal to redistribute the diaries used in sweeps to provide a 4-week "buyer report" earlier than the normal November sweep followed by three quarterly reports was not welcomed […]"
Verb
- 1 To clean (a surface) by means of a stroking motion of a broom or brush. transitive
"to sweep a floor, the street, or a chimney"
- 2 win an overwhelming victory in or on wordnet
- 3 To move through a (horizontal) arc or similar long stroke. intransitive
"The wind sweeps across the plain."
- 4 sweep with a broom or as if with a broom wordnet
- 5 To search (a place) methodically. transitive
Show 22 more definitions
- 6 clean by sweeping wordnet
- 7 To travel quickly. figuratively, intransitive
"Drifting thus, we made fast time down the bank through Cove Bay, and at 72 m.p.h. came sweeping round the curve past Girdleness light house, and so to the first sight of Aberdeen itself."
- 8 make a big sweeping gesture or movement wordnet
- 9 To play a sweep shot.
- 10 move with sweeping, effortless, gliding motions wordnet
- 11 To brush the ice in front of a moving stone, causing it to travel farther and to curl less.
- 12 sweep across or over wordnet
- 13 To move something in a long sweeping motion, as a broom. ergative, transitive
- 14 force into some kind of situation, condition, or course of action wordnet
- 15 To win (a series) without drawing or losing any of the games in that series. transitive
- 16 to cover or extend over an area or time period wordnet
- 17 To defeat (a team) in a series without drawing or losing any of the games in that series. transitive
- 18 cover the entire range of wordnet
- 19 To clear (a body of water or part thereof) of mines.
"The channel was swept twice before the battlefleet proceeded through it."
- 20 To remove something abruptly and thoroughly. transitive
"She swept the peelings off the table onto the floor."
- 21 To brush against or over; to rub lightly along.
"Their long descending train, / With rubies edg'd and sapphires, swept the plain."
- 22 To carry with a long, swinging, or dragging motion; hence, to carry in a stately or proud fashion.
"And like a peacock sweep along his tail."
- 23 To strike with a long stroke.
"Deſcend ye nine! deſcend and ſing; / The breathing inſtruments inſpire, / VVake into voice each ſilent ſtring, / And ſvveep the ſounding lyre!"
- 24 To row with one oar to either the port or starboard side.
- 25 To draw or drag something over.
"to sweep the bottom of a river with a net"
- 26 To pass over, or traverse, with the eye or with an instrument of observation.
"to sweep the heavens with a telescope"
- 27 To vacuum a carpet or rug. Pennsylvania, Western
Antonyms
Example
"If each would sweep before the door, we should have a clean city."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "sweep"?
Common synonyms include: aberrancy, aberration, advance, airscape, ambit, arc.
How do you use "sweep" in a sentence?
If each would sweep before the door, we should have a clean city.
How do you pronounce "sweep"?
Pronounced /swiːp/.
Etymology
From Middle English swepen, from Proto-West Germanic *swaipijan (unattested in Old English), from Proto-Germanic *swaipijaną. Cognate with Early Modern West Frisian swiepe (“whip, cleanse, sweep”), from Old Frisian swēpa, suepa (“sweep”). More distantly related to Old Norse sveipa (whence Swedish svepa). See also swoop.