Adjacent Words

Sweeping definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SWEE'PING, ppr. Brushing over; rubbing with a broom or besom; cleaning with a broom or besom; brushing along; passing over; dragging over.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: taking in or moving over (or as if over) a wide area; often used in combination; "a sweeping glance"; "a wide- sweeping view of the river"
2: ignoring distinctions; "sweeping generalizations"; "wholesale destruction" [syn: sweeping, wholesale] n
1: the act of cleaning with a broom

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Date: 14th century 1. the act or action of one that sweeps <gave the room a good sweeping> 2. plural things collected by sweeping ; refuse II. adjective Date: 1573 1. a. moving or extending in a wide curve or over a wide area b. having a curving line or form 2. a. extensive <sweeping reforms> b. marked by wholesale and indiscriminate inclusion <sweeping generalities> • sweepingly adverb • sweepingness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. & n. --adj. 1 wide in range or effect (sweeping changes). 2 taking no account of particular cases or exceptions (a sweeping statement). --n. (in pl.) dirt etc. collected by sweeping. Derivatives: sweepingly adv. sweepingness n.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Sweep Sweep, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Swept; p. pr. & vb. n. Sweeping.] [OE. swepen; akin to AS. sw[=a]pan. See Swoop, v. i.] 1. To pass a broom across (a surface) so as to remove loose dirt, dust, etc.; to brush, or rub over, with a broom for the purpose of cleaning; as, to sweep a floor, the street, or a chimney. Used also figuratively. I will sweep it with the besom of destruction. --Isa. xiv. 23. 2. To drive or carry along or off with a broom or a brush, or as if with a broom; to remove by, or as if by, brushing; as, to sweep dirt from a floor; the wind sweeps the snow from the hills; a freshet sweeps away a dam, timber, or rubbish; a pestilence sweeps off multitudes. The hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies. --Isa. xxviii. 17. I have already swept the stakes. --Dryden. 3. To brush against or over; to rub lightly along. Their long descending train, With rubies edged and sapphires, swept the plain. --Dryden. 4. 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. --Shak. 5. To strike with a long stroke. Wake into voice each silent string, And sweep the sounding lyre. --Pope. 6. (Naut.) To draw or drag something over; as, to sweep the bottom of a river with a net. 7. To pass over, or traverse, with the eye or with an instrument of observation; as, to sweep the heavens with a telescope. To sweep, or sweep up, a mold (Founding), to form the sand into a mold by a templet, instead of compressing it around the pattern.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Sweeping Sweep"ing, a. Cleaning off surfaces, or cleaning away dust, dirt, or litter, as a broom does; moving with swiftness and force; carrying everything before it; including in its scope many persons or things; as, a sweeping flood; a sweeping majority; a sweeping accusation. -- Sweep"ing*ly, adv. -Sweep"ing*ness, n.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. A sweeping curve is a long wide curve. ...the long sweeping curve of Rio's Guanabara Bay. ADJ: ADJ n 2. If someone makes a sweeping statement or generalization, they make a statement which applies to all things of a particular kind, although they have not considered all the relevant facts carefully. It is far too early to make sweeping statements about gene therapy. ADJ: usu ADJ n [disapproval] 3. Sweeping changes are large and very important or significant. The new government has started to make sweeping changes in the economy... = far-reaching ADJ: usu ADJ n 4. see also sweep

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Destructive. 2. Wholesale, extensive, broad, comprehensive. 3. Unqualified, exaggerated, extravagant.

Moby Thesaurus

absolute, across the board, across-the-board, aleatoric, aleatory, all-comprehensive, all-embracing, all-encompassing, all-inclusive, all-out, all-pervading, amorphous, blanket, blobby, blurred, blurry, born, broad, broad-based, cataclysmic, catastrophic, catholic, chance, chancy, chaotic, clean, clear, coasting, compendious, complete, comprehensive, confused, congenital, consummate, debris, decisive, deep-dyed, diffuse, disordered, downright, dust, dyed-in-the-wool, egregious, encyclopedic, exhaustive, extensive, far-embracing, far-extending, far-flung, far-flying, far-going, far-ranging, far-reaching, flow, flowing, foggy, fuzzy, garbage, general, glide, gliding, global, hazy, hit-or-miss, ill-defined, imprecise, inaccurate, inchoate, incoherent, indecisive, indefinable, indefinite, indeterminable, indeterminate, indiscriminate, indistinct, inexact, insurrectionary, intensive, junk, large-scale, lax, liberal, litter, loose, nonspecific, obscure, omnibus, omnipresent, orderless, out-and-out, outright, over-all, overwhelming, panoramic, perfect, pervasive, plain, plumb, pure, radical, random, regular, revolutional, revolutionary, revulsionary, revulsive, rubbish, sailing, shadowed forth, shadowy, shapeless, sheer, skating, skiing, skim, sledding, slide, sliding, slipping, slither, slithering, stochastic, straight, sweep, synoptic, thorough, thoroughgoing, through-and-through, tobogganing, total, transilient, trash, ubiquitous, umbrella, unclear, unconditional, undefined, undestined, undetermined, universal, unmitigated, unplain, unqualified, unreserved, unrestricted, unspecified, utter, vague, veiled, veritable, waste, whole, wholesale, wide, wide-extended, wide-extending, wide-ranging, wide-reaching, wide-stretching, widespread, without exception, without omission