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Glite Dictionary
🧹 To clean house 🚪 To remove people
to houseclean

to houseclean

7.2
To remove people or practices from an organization to make it work better
  • verb
  • /ˈhaʊsˌkliːn/
  • Informal
translation icon : depurar
  • After the scandal, the governor moved quickly to houseclean the entire administration.

Examples

  • The CEO housecleaned several departments, firing managers and replacing outdated procedures.

  • The company decided to houseclean its outdated practices.

  • Their first act as new board members was to begin housecleaning across the organization.

  • We need to houseclean our team to improve efficiency.

  • The new CEO decided to houseclean the management team to improve efficiency.

  • To streamline operations, the company will houseclean outdated procedures and practices.

  • After the merger, they had to houseclean their staff to eliminate redundancies.

Synonyms

to clean up
vsto houseclean
  • Informal
333 2.7

To finish dealing with things and put them in order

focuses on removing inefficient practices and people not just tidying tasks
to clear out
vsto houseclean
91 3.1

Remove all things from a place so it becomes empty

targets unwanted practices and people rather than physically emptying locations
to purge
vsto houseclean
49 6.3

To remove unwanted substances, things, or people by cleaning

is more informal and focuses on reorganizing rather than strict elimination
to weed out
vsto houseclean
37 3.8

To remove unwanted people or things from a group

is broader, involving a major reorganization beyond selective removals
to clean out
vsto houseclean
  • Informal
10 3.6

Remove people completely from a place or group because they are unwanted

focuses on reorganizing systems and practices rather than just emptying a place
to clean house
vsto houseclean
  • Informal
3 4.0

To remove unwanted people or things to make a group work better

is the informal variant used in casual speech
to sweep away
vsto houseclean
1 3.9

To destroy or carry something away completely, for example by water

is about reorganizing and removing specific elements not total destruction

Antonyms

to maintain
931 3.1

Keep an activity, quality, or schedule going over time

to retain
236 3.4

To keep having something such as a job or possession

How Radical

to purge
49 6.3
to houseclean
  • Informal
7.2
to reorganize
43 3.4
to adjust
317 2.7

Surface Forms

houseclean infinitive
housecleaned past
housecleaned past participle
housecleaning present participle
housecleans third person singular

Morphology

houseclean = house + clean (semi-transparent) = house + clean

The organizational sense is a metaphorical extension of 'cleaning a house' to removing unwanted elements from an organization; the relation is recognizable but requires a metaphorical mapping.

Etymology

Houseclean uses the picture of house and clean — 'clean the house' — as a useful image. A helpful way to remember the second meaning is to think of clearing out old or unwanted things from a home, so to houseclean an organization is to remove people or procedures you do not want.