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View synonyms for sweeping

sweeping

[ swee-ping ]

adjective

  1. of wide range or scope.

    Synonyms: comprehensive, broad, extensive

  2. moving or passing about over a wide area:

    a sweeping glance.

  3. moving, driving, or passing steadily and forcibly on.
  4. (of the outcome of a contest) decisive; overwhelming; complete:

    a sweeping victory.



noun

  1. the act of a person or thing that sweeps. sweeps. sweep.
  2. sweepings, matter swept swept sweep out or up, as dust, refuse, etc.

sweeping

/ ˈswiːpɪŋ /

adjective

  1. comprehensive and wide-ranging

    sweeping reforms

  2. indiscriminate or without reservations

    sweeping statements

  3. decisive or overwhelming

    a sweeping victory

  4. taking in a wide area

    a sweeping glance

  5. driving steadily onwards, esp over a large area

    a sweeping attack



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Derived Forms

  • ˈsweepingness, noun
  • ˈsweepingly, adverb

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Other Words From

  • sweeping·ly adverb

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Word History and Origins

Origin of sweeping1

First recorded in 1470–80; sweep 1 + -ing 2, -ing 1

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Example Sentences

Two years ago in Michigan, she oversaw AFP operations to help the Republican-controlled legislature pass sweeping anti-union laws.

In 1695, still under an imposed silence, she died in a plague sweeping the capital.

The classic film that opens with a tornado sweeping through a Kansas farm made its debut 75 years ago in 1939.

These tensions run throughout the conference, but also throughout the “mindfulness” movement that is now sweeping America.

As the Ebola epidemic began sweeping through the region, fear and mistrust of the health workers in West Point escalated.

"Yes, Alessandro," she answered faintly, the gusts sweeping her voice like a distant echo past him.

He stood aside, and bending from the waist he made a sweeping gesture towards the door with the hand that held his hat.

“Yes; that would be indispensible,” said the baron, whose eyes were sweeping the room from corner to corner, fiercely and swiftly.

She did shout for joy, as with a sweeping stroke or two she lifted her body to the surface of the water.

The wave of religious fanaticism sweeping over the land might recede as rapidly as it had risen.

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sweep handsweepings