SWEEPING

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does sweeping mean? 

• SWEEPING (noun)
  The noun SWEEPING has 1 sense:

1. the act of cleaning with a broom

  Familiarity information: SWEEPING used as a noun is very rare.

• SWEEPING (adjective)
  The adjective SWEEPING has 2 senses:

1. taking in or moving over (or as if over) a wide area; often used in combination

2. ignoring distinctions

  Familiarity information: SWEEPING used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SWEEPING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of cleaning with a broom

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("sweeping" is a kind of...):

cleaning; cleansing; cleanup (the act of making something clean)

Derivation:

sweep (sweep with a broom or as if with a broom)

sweep (clean by sweeping)

• SWEEPING (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Taking in or moving over (or as if over) a wide area; often used in combination

Context example:

a wide-sweeping view of the river

Similar:

broad; wide (having great (or a certain) extent from one side to the other)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Ignoring distinctions

Synonyms:

sweeping; wholesale

Context example:

wholesale destruction

Similar:

indiscriminate (not marked by fine distinctions)

 Context examples 

“I will tell you the meaning of it,” cried the lady, sweeping into the room with a proud, set face.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This link between sugar and cancer has sweeping consequences.

(Scientists Reveal The Relationship Between Sugar, Cancer, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The three vessels had been sweeping swiftly westwards, the cog still well to the front, although the galleys were slowly drawing in upon either quarter.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I heard her sweeping away; and soon after she was gone, I suppose I had a species of fit: unconsciousness closed the scene.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

At this sweeping rebuke, which the cook had only pointed, the rest of the crew became uninterested and fell to work at one task or another.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

At one time Patty came to say she thought the kitchen chimney wanted sweeping.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

He made a sweeping bow to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the detective.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Then the witch cried: “Where are you?” “Here, on the stairs, I am sweeping,” answered the first drop of blood.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

I tried and found by experiment that the tide kept sweeping us westward until I had laid her head due east, or just about right angles to the way we ought to go.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

“Jump, Buck!” he commanded, sweeping his arm out and over the chasm.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)