sweeping - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

By surface analysis, sweep +‎ -ing.

sweeping

  1. present participle and gerund of sweep

sweeping (countable and uncountable, plural sweepings)

  1. (countable) An instance of sweeping.
    The sidewalk needed a sweeping every morning.
  2. (uncountable) The activity of sweeping.
    Sweeping took all morning.
    The sidewalk needed sweeping every morning.

an instance of sweeping

sweeping (comparative more sweeping, superlative most sweeping)

  1. Wide, broad, affecting or touching upon many things.
    Synonyms: across-the-board, wide-ranging; see also Thesaurus:comprehensive, Thesaurus:generic
    The government will bring in sweeping changes to the income tax system.
    He loves making sweeping statements without the slightest evidence.
    • 1947 January and February, O. S. Nock, “"The Aberdonian" in Wartime”, in Railway Magazine, page 7:
      We steamed easily across the first part of the Tay Bridge, and then after passing over the long spans in mid-stream we coasted smoothly down the 1 in 114 gradient, and around the sweeping curve through Esplanade Station.
    • 2013 June 18, Simon Romero, “Protests Widen as Brazilians Chide Leaders”, in New York Times, retrieved 21 June 2013:
      By the time politicians in several cities backed down on Tuesday and announced that they would cut or consider reducing fares, the demonstrations had already morphed into a more sweeping social protest, with marchers waving banners carrying slogans like “The people have awakened.”
    • 2022 January 12, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Unhappy start to 2022”, in RAIL, number 948, page 3:
      The thing is, we've even had formal confirmation from Government itself that the crucial research required to make such sweeping claims hasn't been done!
  2. Completely overwhelming.
    He claimed a sweeping victory.
  3. 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.)
    Coordinate term: ticking (adjective)

Collocations

wide, broad, affecting many things