SWEEPING • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Sweeping

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/swˈipɪŋ/ Listen

Sweeping

adjective

1.

Taking in or moving over (or as if over) a wide area; often used in combination. "A wide-sweeping view of the river"

2.

Ignoring distinctions. Synonym: wholesale. "Wholesale destruction"

noun

1.

The act of cleaning with a broom.

Sweep

verb

(past & past part. swept; pres. part. sweeping)

1.

Sweep across or over. Synonym: brush. "A gasp swept cross the audience"

2.

Move with sweeping, effortless, gliding motions. Synonym: sail. "Shreds of paper sailed through the air" , "The searchlights swept across the sky"

3.

Sweep with a broom or as if with a broom. Synonym: broom. "Sweep under the bed"

4.

Force into some kind of situation, condition, or course of action. Synonyms: drag, drag in, embroil, sweep up, tangle. "Don't drag me into this business"

5.

To cover or extend over an area or time period. Synonyms: cross, span, traverse. "The parking lot spans 3 acres" , "The novel spans three centuries"

6.

Clean by sweeping.

7.

Win an overwhelming victory in or on.

8.

Cover the entire range of.

9.

Make a big sweeping gesture or movement. Synonyms: swing, swing out.

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Etymology of 'Sweeping'

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sweep under the rug

WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University

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"Sweeping" Quotes from Famous Books

... squeezed out of the State, was the one question which filled all minds; and the general desire was that such regiments should be sent to the Western army, to swell the triumph which was still expected for General Fremont, and to assist in sweeping slavery out into the Gulf of Mexico. The patriotism of the West has been quite as keen as that of the North, and has produced results as memorable; but it has sprung from a different source, and been conducted and animated by a different sentiment. National greatness ...

— Volume 1 • Anthony Trollope

... imagined the scene as she ran swiftly forward through the pines to the edge of the butte bluff whence she might look down upon the coulee that nestled against it. Nor had she greatly erred, for her first sweeping glance showed her the thing she ...

— Wyoming, a Story of the Outdoor West • William MacLeod Raine

... competitive classified service upward of 84,000 places, more than half of these having been included from time to time since March 4, 1893. A most radical and sweeping extension was made by Executive order dated the 6th day of May, 1896,[39] and if fourth-class postmasterships are not included in the statement it may be said that practically all positions contemplated by the civil-service law are now classified. Abundant reasons exist for including these postmasterships, ...

— Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents - Volume 8, Section 2 (of 2): Grover Cleveland • Grover Cleveland

... There was no excitement. Nobody seemed astonished. Marcia settled herself more comfortably on the couch and Galen began whispering to Sextus. The two other women looked amused. Reaction sweeping over him, his senses reeled and Livius stepped backward, staggering to the fountain, where ...

— Caesar Dies • Talbot Mundy

... hanging about. If they had been he would have squared the auditor up to any sum—a hundred francs, almost; it was worth while. Pickings, he called hem. The place, the system suited him down to the ground. He had lived all his life on pickings. He was a retail welsher; he lacked the nerve for sweeping enterprises. ...

— South Wind • Norman Douglas

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