What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

What is the difference between clean and sweep?

clean | sweep |

In transitive terms the difference between clean and sweep

is that clean is to tidy up, make a place neat while sweep is to remove something abruptly and thoroughly.

In intransitive terms the difference between clean and sweep

is that clean is to make things clean in general while sweep is to move through an (horizontal) arc or similar long stroke.

As an adjective clean

is Free of dirt or impurities or protruberances.

As an adverb clean

is fully and completely.

clean

English

(wikipedia clean)

Adjective

(er)
  • Free of dirt or impurities or protruberances.
  • #Not dirty.
  • #:
  • #*
  • #*:Then his sallow face brightened, for the hall had been carefully furnished, and was very clean . ¶ There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls.
  • #In an unmarked condition.
  • #:
  • #(lb) Allowing an uninterrupted flow over surfaces, without protrusions such as racks or landing gear.
  • #Empty.
  • #:
  • #(lb) Having relatively few impurities.
  • #:
  • Free of immorality or criminality.
  • #Pure, especially morally or religiously.
  • #:
  • #*(Bible), (Psalms) li.10:
  • #*:Create in me a clean heart, O God.
  • #* (1809-1892)
  • #*:That I am whole, and clean , and meet for Heaven.
  • #Not having used drugs or alcohol.
  • #:
  • # Without restrictions or penalties, or someone having such a record.
  • #:
  • #(lb) Not in possession of weapons or contraband such as drugs.
  • #:
  • Smooth, exact, and performed well.
  • :
  • (lb) Cool or neat.
  • :
  • (lb) Being free of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
  • :
  • Which doesn’t .
  • :
  • Free from that which is useless or injurious; without defects.
  • :
  • Free from restraint or neglect; complete; entire.
  • *(Bible), (w) xxiii.22:
  • *:When ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of corners of thy field.
  • Well-proportioned; shapely.
  • :
  • Ascended without falling.
  • Synonyms

    * (not dirty) * (empty)

    Antonyms

    * dirty * unclean

    Derived terms

    * clean as a hound's tooth * * clean sheet * clean sweep * cleanliness * cleanly * come clean * lick clean * unclean

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Removal of dirt.
  • This place needs a clean .
  • (weightlifting) The first part of the event clean and jerk in which the weight is brought from the ground to the shoulders.
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To remove dirt from a place or object.
  • Can you clean the windows today?
  • To tidy up, make a place neat.
  • Clean your room right now!
  • (climbing) To remove equipment from a climbing route after it was previously lead climbed.
  • To make things clean in general.
  • She just likes to clean . That’s why I married her.
  • (curling) To brush the ice lightly in front of a moving rock to remove any debris and ensure a correct line; less vigorous than a sweep.
  • Synonyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * clean someone’s clock * clean out * clean up * cleaner * houseclean

    Adverb

    (er)
  • Fully and completely.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
  • , title=(The China Governess) , chapter=1 citation , passage=The huge square box, parquet-floored and high-ceilinged, had been arranged to display a suite of bedroom furniture designed and made in the halcyon days of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, when modish taste was just due to go clean out of fashion for the best part of the next hundred years.}}

    sweep

    English

    Verb

  • To clean (a surface) by means of a motion of a broom or brush.
  • to sweep a floor, the street, or a chimney
  • * (Bible), (w) xiv. 23
  • I will sweep it with the besom of destruction.
  • To move through an (horizontal) arc or similar long stroke.
  • * 2005 , (Lesley Brown) (translator), Sophist by (Plato), :
  • [H]as the course of the argument so accustomed you to agreeing that you were swept by it into a ready assent?
  • To search (a place) methodically.
  • (figuratively) To travel quickly.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=February 1, author=Phil McNulty, work=BBC
  • , title= Arsenal 2-1 Everton , passage=Everton took that disputed lead in a moment that caused anger to sweep around the Emirates. }}
  • (cricket) To play a sweep shot.
  • (curling) To brush the ice in front of a moving stone, causing it to travel farther and to curl less.
  • (ergative) To move something in a particular motion, as a broom.
  • (sports) To win (a series) without drawing or losing any of the games in that series.
  • (sports) To defeat (a team) in a series without drawing or losing any of the games in that series.
  • To remove something abruptly and thoroughly.
  • The wind sweeps the snow from the hills.
    The flooded river swept away the wooden dam.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author= Ed Pilkington
  • , volume=188, issue=26, page=6, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= ‘Killer robots’ should be banned in advance, UN told , passage=In his submission to the UN, [Christof] Heyns points to the experience of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles were intended initially only for surveillance, and their use for offensive purposes was prohibited, yet once strategists realised their perceived advantages as a means of carrying out targeted killings, all objections were swept out of the way.}}
  • To brush against or over; to rub lightly along.
  • * (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • Their long descending train, / With rubies edged and sapphires, swept the plain.
  • *
  • Mind you, clothes were clothes in those days. […]  Frills, ruffles, flounces, lace, complicated seams and gores: not only did they sweep the ground and have to be held up in one hand elegantly as you walked along, but they had little capes or coats or feather boas.
  • To carry with a long, swinging, or dragging motion; hence, to carry in a stately or proud fashion.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • And like a peacock sweep along his tail.
  • To strike with a long stroke.
  • * (Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
  • Wake into voice each silent string, / And sweep the sounding lyre.
  • (nautical) To draw or drag something over.
  • to sweep the bottom of a river with a net
  • To pass over, or traverse, with the eye or with an instrument of observation.
  • to sweep the heavens with a telescope

    Derived terms

    * sweeper * sweep across * sweep someone off their feet * sweep something under the rug * sweep up * sweepy

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The person who steers a dragon boat.
  • A person who stands at the stern of a surf boat, steering with a steering oar and commanding the crew.
  • A chimney sweep.
  • A search (typically for bugs [electronic listening devices]).
  • (cricket) A batsman's shot, played from a kneeling position with a swinging horizontal bat.
  • 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.
  • A flow of water parallel to shore caused by wave action at an ocean beach or at a point or headland.
  • A single action of sweeping.
  • Violent and general destruction.
  • the sweep of an epidemic disease
  • (metalworking) A movable templet for making moulds, in loam moulding.
  • (card games) In the game casino, the act of capturing all face-up cards from the table.
  • The compass of any turning body or of any motion.
  • the sweep''' of a door; the '''sweep of the eye
  • Direction or departure of a curve, a road, an arch, etc. away from a rectilinear line.
  • * Sir Walter Scott
  • the road which makes a small sweep
  • A large oar used in small vessels, partly to propel them and partly to steer them.
  • (refining, obsolete) The almond furnace.
  • 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.
  • (in the plural) The sweepings of workshops where precious metals are worked, containing filings, etc.
  • Derived terms

    * chimney sweep * clean sweep * sweepstake

    References

    *