clean slate
21
4.1
- noun
- Informal
:
borrón y cuenta nueva
- We need a clean slate to start moving our country in the proper direction.
It feels like a clean slate, a sort of spotless mind.
- It feels like a clean slate, a sort of spotless mind.
- You're in this place of a clean slate and yet you've cluttered it by not letting go.
- And every day, every morning, you start with a clean slate.
- But eventually you've piled enough things onto that clean slate that you have to start cleaning it off again.
- Thank you, Cincinnati and tomorrow is a clean slate.
- So yeah, then what happened was I went off to college kind of a clean slate.
- You're just all you are is an ask for, for all you are is an ask for forgiveness away from having a clean slate, from having a clean heart.
- So you start square one at least, like a clean slate.
- That every single morning you can wake up and experience a clean slate.
- And they have a clean slate and they're fabulous, you know, And we applaud you for that.
- However, that clean slate kind of push me downhill because I was that pissed off.
- Yeah, he's still out there doing weird, weird shit with his clean slate.
Examples
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Leave your old shortcomings behind you, thus starting the new year with a clean slate.
Blog text (33) -
It's best to start with a clean slate.
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Why does he want to have a clean slate now?
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- I want us to start out with a clean slate.
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Tomorrow morning, first thing, it's a clean slate, okay?
Fiction book (1992) -
You've been given a chance to start over, with a clean slate.
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Where some people see daunting obstacles, the mayor sees only blue sky: "Rarely do you get a clean slate like we have."
Academic text (2011) -
The destructive winds provided Greensburg with a clean slate upon which the community could rebuild.
Academic text (2011) -
And normally on my birthday, I wake up excited because I feel like I've just been handed a clean slate and the opportunity to create a brand new year.
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After the argument, she wished for a clean slate to rebuild their friendship.
Synonyms
52
3.2
A chance to begin again after problems
12
3.9
A complete ending of a relationship or old life to start fresh
8
4.8
A situation that gives a fresh start with no past
1
9.6
A mind or situation with no previous experience
Do something new and not worry about past mistakes
Antonyms
How Fresh
Surface Forms
Morphology
clean + slate
The meaning is directly derivable from 'clean' (free of marks) + 'slate' (a writing surface): a 'clean slate' literally suggests a surface with nothing written on it, which metaphorically maps to being allowed to start anew. This blank/clean-slate metaphor is common cross-linguistically and follows straightforward compositional logic, so a B1 learner who knows both words would likely infer the idiomatic meaning.
Etymology
Clean slate comes from old school slates students used: when a teacher wiped a slate until it was clean, the board was ready to be written on again. So, a clean slate means a 'new start' with no past mistakes.