What does sweep mean?
To sweep is to brush, clear, or remove material with a firm, continuous movement, as when cleaning a floor. From this ordinary physical action, the word extends to rapid movement across a place, as when a storm sweeps across a coast, and to comprehensive investigation, as in a sweep of financial records. It can also describe decisive success: a candidate who wins every contest achieves “a clean sweep.” Sweeping someone “off their feet” means making them feel suddenly overwhelmed by admiration, attraction, or surprise. The word additionally appears in “sweeping reforms,” where it describes changes that are broad rather than limited. As a noun, a sweep may be an act of cleaning, a rapid movement, a comprehensive survey, or the result of winning every available contest. Its unusually wide range makes it useful for describing both physical movement and sweeping metaphorical change.
To clean or clear a surface by brushing away material, or to move rapidly across an area.
"He swept the leaves from the path."
The verb is transitive when referring to cleaning or clearing and intransitive when describing rapid movement.
To examine, survey, or influence something broadly; to win decisively.
"The proposal was swept through the committee."
These extended senses are metaphorical and are common in formal and journalistic writing.
An act of sweeping, a rapid movement across an area, or a comprehensive result or survey.
"The team celebrated a clean sweep of the championship."
The meaning varies with context: “a clean sweep” indicates complete success, while “a sweep of the area” may indicate either a search or rapid passage.
The plural is used for individual cleaning actions, rapid movements, surveys, and instances of decisive victory.
"Several sweeps of the radar detected activity near the coast."
One small word can mean clearing a room, surveying a landscape, or winning every contest: a single victory may be a clean sweep.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does sweep come from?
The verb comes from Old English swēpan, meaning “to sweep.” It belongs to a Germanic word family that also included forms in Old Frisian and Old Saxon with similar meanings. In Middle English, the sense broadened from cleaning with a brush to moving rapidly or comprehensively. The modern senses concerning decisive victory and overwhelming emotional impact developed through metaphorical uses of the original action.
Related word forms
How sweep is actually used
The verb is highly versatile and is common in both formal and informal contexts. Phrases such as “sweep someone off their feet” imply an intense emotional or social impression, while “a clean sweep” refers to complete or decisive success. In the sense of comprehensive examination, “sweep” often occurs with “of,” as in “a sweep of the report.”
Easily confused with sweep
Sweep means to brush or move something away, whereas sweat is the liquid produced by the body as it cools.