to clear the air
24
4.1
- phrasal verb
- Informal
:
aclarar las cosas
- I'm glad you came to clear the air!
She did try to clear the air on some of her past statements.
- She did try to clear the air on some of her past statements.
- It is nice and helpful just to clear the air.
- You got to clear the air sometime.
- So I just want to clear the air, wrap things up, you know, so that none of you are left worried.
- You may attempt to have conversations with people to clear the air, but when it's over, your social world may never look the same.
- So just to clear the air and get it off the table, what if we sent Pizzana pizzas into space with Jeff Bezos next time he goes up?
- I called him on, I kept on on on looking Raymond Bump because I wanted to, I wanted to clear the air, but there was this one bit.
Examples
-
If you think I've offended you, please PM me, so we can clear the air in private.
Blog text (2) -
That's why I brought you here, so we could clear the air between us.
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I just wanted to clear the air.
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I wanted to clear the air and talk.
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Yes, I thought perhaps we might clear the air.
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I think I need to clear the air here a little.
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I need to just clear the air with him once and for all.
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Let's just clear the air.
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So I just want to clear the air, wrap things up, you know, so that none of you are left worried.
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Let's have a meeting to clear the air about our recent disagreements.
Synonyms
167
3.4
To solve a problem or make a misunderstanding clear
22
3.8
Settle problems or disagreements by talking and finding a solution
7
3.4
Talk honestly without hiding facts or feelings
5
3.4
To find a fair way to end a disagreement between people
Talk about a problem to make things clear and stop misunderstandings
Antonyms
243
1.6
When someone does not understand something correctly and this causes a problem
How Resolved
623
3.3
- Informal
24
4.1
∞
1.6
- Informal
149
2.9
1
6.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense of 'clear' (to remove uncertainty or explain) plus 'air' (an atmosphere or mood) composes directly to mean removing a tense atmosphere or misunderstandings. This metaphorical use of 'air' as 'atmosphere' is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should be able to infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
The idiom clear the air comes from the image of opening windows after smoke or a bad smell so fresh air can come in and the room feels better. So it now means 'to resolve misunderstandings or bad feelings'.