Word.ws English Dictionary

clean slate

clean slate noun: a fresh start.

Noun

clean slate (plural clean slates)

  1. (broadly, figuratively) A fresh start.
    • Near-synonyms: new leaf, new page, new canvas, new sheet; blank slate, blank canvas, tabula rasa
    • I paid off my debt slowly. I started contributing to my first 401(k). I learned how to read a paycheck, how to budget, how to save, and how much I could realistically afford in rent while still setting something aside. […] One year later, I returned to the city with a clean financial slate.2026 April 22, Jillian Sanders, “The Danger of Surrendering Your Financial Independence in a Relationship”, in TIME, archived from the original on 22 Apr 2026
  2. A slate on which the courses steered by a ship (and distances run) were recorded, but have been wiped clean after being entered in the log at the end of a watch.

Synonyms of clean slate

All synonyms of clean slate

Forms of clean slate

pluralclean slates

Words formed from clean slate

Questions about clean slate

What does clean slate mean?
Clean slate means a fresh start.
What part of speech is clean slate?
Clean slate is a noun.
What is the plural of clean slate?
The plural of clean slate is clean slates.

Words near clean slate in the dictionary

  1. clean sheets
  2. clean shell
  3. clean shells
  4. clean skin
  5. clean skins
  6. clean slate
  7. clean slates
  8. clean someone's clock
  9. clean sweep
  10. clean sweeps
  11. clean teen

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: clean slate (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “clean slate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/clean_slate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.