Are you looking for some useful clean idioms?
In this post, we are going to look at 29 clean idioms and sayings that you can use in your daily conversations.
29 Clean Idioms And Sayings (Meaning & Examples)
1. To Be As Clean As A Hound’s Tooth
- Meaning: to be very clean.
- Use In A Sentence: Wow, I am impressed. Your room is as clean as a hound’s tooth. What is your secret?
2. To Have A Clean Conscience
- Meaning: to have no feelings of guilt over something.
- Synonyms: To have a clear conscience.
- Use In A Sentence: After thinking about it some more, I know I didn’t do anything wrong. It was his fault. Thanks for listening. Talking about it really helps me to have a clean conscience on the matter.
3. To Make A Clean Break
- Meaning: a complete separation from someone or something with no hope of returning. It could refer to leaving a relationship, an organization, way of life, job, etc.
- Use In A Sentence: Jessica seemed much happier after she made a clean break from Jared. I wish her all the best in her next relationship.
4. A New Broom Sweeps Clean
- Meaning: a new leader will bring a fresh perspective, get rid of the old and bring in some new ideas that will be beneficial.
- Use In A Sentence: I am glad to hear we are getting a new manager. Hopefully, he will make the much-needed changes. After all, a new broom sweeps clean.
5. To Be Cleaned Out
- Meaning: to have no money.
- Use In A Sentence: I would borrow you some money, but your brother already cleaned me out. I will have to wait until my next paycheck.
6. To Clean One’s Plate
- Meaning: to eat all the food that is on one’s plate.
- Use In A Sentence: The kids were told they needed to clean their plates if they wanted to play video games after dinner.
7. To Clean Someone’s Clock
- Meaning: to beat someone up.
- Use In A Sentence: I don’t know if I would challenge Mark. He is much bigger than you and he will surely be able to clean your clock if he doesn’t like what you say.
8. To Be Clean As A New Pin
- Meaning: to be very clean, tidy, neat.
- Use In A Sentence: When I walked into his new place, I was shocked. It was as clean as a new pin. It’s obvious he’s made some big changes since his days at university. He used to be known as the sloppiest kid on campus.
9. To Have A Clean Bill Of Health
- Meaning: a written or an oral report that states a person is doing well physically.
- Use In A Sentence: After being anxious about the test results, Mary was relieved to receive a clean bill of health. She celebrated by signing up for a marathon the next weekend.
10. To Have Clean Hands
- Meaning: to be innocent.
- Use In A Sentence: “George, look at me, my hands are clean. I had nothing to do with the robbery,” Emily said.
11. To Clean One’s Act Up
- Meaning: to improve one’s behavior.
- Use In A Sentence: It is nice to see that Jim finally decided to clean his act up and give up smoking. Not only will he feel better, but his clothing won’t won’t stink anymore.
12. A Clean Slate
- Meaning: an opportunity to start over without a record of one’s past mistakes.
- Use In A Sentence: I know we have had our differences in the past, and we have said things we don’t mean, but can we start over with a clean slate?
13. To Clean The Floor With Someone
- Meaning: to beat someone up.
- Use In A Sentence: I’d be careful what you say around Keith. Keith is much bigger than you and could surely clean the floor with you if he wanted.
14. To Clean Up Nicely
- Meaning: used to describe a person who you normally see in work clothes. They are casual, dirty, unkempt. Then when you see them in dress clothes or well-groomed, they look like a different person.
- Use In A Sentence: “Wow that guy in the blue suit cleans up nicely. Is he married?”, Joann asked.
15. To Come Clean About Something
- Meaning: to admit to doing something. It is usually something that initially a person tried to hide from others.
- Use In A Sentence: My conscience has been bothering me for a while now. I need to come clean about what really happened last week.
16. To Keep A Clean Sheet
- Meaning: to prevent the opposite team from scoring. You often hear this expression used in soccer matches.
- Use In A Sentence: I think if they start the pro goalie they will keep a clean sheet tonight.
17. To Keep One’s Nose Clean
- Meaning: to behave, to stay out of trouble.
- Use In A Sentence: Brian’s mom said if he didn’t keep his nose clean he would be grounded for one month. Brian knew his mom was serious so he did his best to behave well.
18. To Make A Clean Breast Of Something
- Meaning: to confess your mistakes or wrongdoings. To tell the whole truth about something that you did.
- Use In A Sentence: John decided to make a clean breast of it and tell his parents what really happened.
19. To Show Someone A Clean Pair Of Heels
- Meaning: to run away from someone very quickly.
- Use In A Sentence: Tom showed the police a clean pair of heels as he ran down the deserted street. He moved so quickly the 2 officers couldn’t catch up with him, and thus was able to escape.
20. So Clean That A Person Could Eat Off The Floor
- Meaning: an expression used to describe something that is very clean.
- Use In A Sentence: Her house is so clean that you could eat off the floor.
21. To Clean One’s Plow
- Meaning: to beat someone up.
- Use In A Sentence: It looks like someone really cleaned Brian’s plow last night. He woke up with a broken rib and a black eye.
22. To Be Clean As A Whistle
- Meaning: to be extremely clean, tidy, and/or neat.
- Use In A Sentence: I am going to spend the rest of the day cleaning my house. It needs to be as clean as a whistle before George and Kathleen come to visit.
23. Clean Code
- Meaning: code that is used for computer programming that is written in an organized way so that it is easily understood by others.
- Use In A Sentence: You need to talk to the other computer programmers. I can’t read this code. Please tell them to write clean code. Otherwise this project will never be successful.
24. Clean-Cut
- Meaning: to be well-groomed.
- Use In A Sentence: Barbara used to go for the bad boy type, but recently she has been going after guys who are clean-cut.
25. To Make A Clean Sweep
- Meaning #1: to win very easily or by a large margin.
- Use In A Sentence: My football team made a clean sweep last night, 27-0.
- Meaning #2: to win all the available prizes.
- Use In A Sentence: He made a clean sweep. He won all three trophies in his division.
- Meaning #3: to make big changes in an organization by removing what is not wanted and starting over.
- Use In A Sentence: The first change I want to make as the new owner is to make a clean sweep of the current management system.
26. To Pick Something Clean
- Meaning: To remove everything from something.
- Use In A Sentence: The boys must have been hungry. They picked the bones clean.
27. To Wipe The Slate Clean
- Meaning: to forget one’s past mistakes and start over.
- Use In A Sentence: I just hope that I can wipe the slate clean and start over again.
28. To Clean House
- Meaning #1: to remove a group of people in an organization that is causing problems.
- Use In A Sentence: After a horrible losing season, the general manager decided to clean house and remove the entire offensive coaching staff.
- Meaning #2: to give someone a beating.
- Use In A Sentence: Be careful not to threaten Billy or else he will clean your house.
29. To Be Taken To The Cleaners By Someone
- Meaning: to swindle someone. To take someone’s money in a deceitful manner.
- Use In A Sentence: The con artists took Bob and Norma to the cleaners telling them they need a new roof.
There you have it! 29 clean idioms! Did we miss one? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
