sweeping
Syllables: sweep·ing/ˈswiːpɪŋ/
sweeping is the present participle and gerund of sweep.
Noun
sweeping (countable and uncountable, plural sweepings)
- An instance of sweeping.
- The sidewalk needed a sweeping every morning.
- The activity of sweeping.
- Sweeping took all morning.
- The sidewalk needed sweeping every morning.
Adjective
sweeping (comparative more sweeping, superlative most sweeping)
- Wide, broad, affecting or touching upon many things.
- The government will bring in sweeping changes to the income tax system.
- He loves making sweeping statements without the slightest evidence.
- Synonyms:
- across-the-board, wide-ranging, all around, all-embracing, catholic, all-encompassing, blanket, broad, thick, comprehensive
- Completely overwhelming.
- He claimed a sweeping victory.
- Moving in a continuous motion, rather than by intermittent jumps. (For example, the second hand on a clock face may move either in the sweeping manner or in the ticking manner.)
Meaning of sweep
Verb
sweep (third-person singular simple present sweeps, present participle sweeping, simple past and past participle swept)
- To clean (a surface) by means of a stroking motion of a broom or brush.
- to sweep a floor, the street, or a chimney
- To move through a (horizontal) arc or similar long stroke.
- The wind sweeps across the plain.
- Synonyms:
- swing
- To search (a place) methodically.
- To travel quickly.
- Drifting thus, we made fast time down the bank through Cove Bay, and at 72 m.p.h. came sweeping round the curve past Girdleness light house, and so to the first sight of Aberdeen itself.1947 January and February, O. S. Nock, “"The Aberdonian" in Wartime”, in Railway Magazine, page 9
- Synonyms:
- They've swept to power with an overwhelming majority.
- To play a sweep shot.
- To brush the ice in front of a moving stone, causing it to travel farther and to curl less.
Synonyms of sweeping
- across-the-board
- wide-ranging
- all around
- all-embracing
- catholic
- all-encompassing
- blanket
- broad
- thick
- comprehensive
14 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of sweeping
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | sweepings |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more sweeping |
| superlative | most sweeping |
Origin of sweeping
By surface analysis, sweep + -ing.
Words formed from sweeping
- at a sweeping reduction
- minesweeping
- sweeping day
- sweeping flood
- sweeping-machine
- sweeping rain
- sweepings
- oversweeping
- sweepingly
- sweepingness
Phrases with sweeping
- sweeping in
- sweeping up
- sweeping out
- sweeping away
- sweeping along
- sweeping aside
- muzzle sweeping
- sweeping the deck
- Tomb Sweeping Day
- sweeping the board
- Tomb Sweeping Festival
- sweeping someone off their feet
2 more phrasesFewer phrases
Words that rhyme with sweeping
Questions about sweeping
- What does sweeping mean?
- Sweeping means an instance of sweeping.
- What is sweeping the present participle and gerund of?
- Sweeping is the present participle and gerund of sweep.
- What part of speech is sweeping?
- Sweeping can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce sweeping?
- Sweeping is pronounced /ˈswiːpɪŋ/.
- What is the plural of sweeping?
- The plural of sweeping is sweepings.
Words near sweeping in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: sweeping (page history and authors); sweep (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-sweeping.wav.
Cite this entry: “sweeping.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sweeping. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.