clean house

phrase

1

: to clean a house and its furniture

2

: to make sweeping reforms or changes (as of personnel)

Examples of clean house in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

After the match, the Irresistible Forces ganged up on Stratton, but Canada’s own Chelsea Green hit the ring and cleaned house with a kendo stick to a huge reaction. — Alfred Konuwa, Forbes.com, 21 Aug. 2026

Given the senior position Liaw held and his long history with Liang and Liu, who both serve on the board, some investors have called for Supermicro to clean house with its management team. — Amanda Gerut, Fortune, 20 Aug. 2026

Most of us don’t necessarily enjoy cleaning, but everyone loves the feeling of coming home to a clean house. — Betsy Cribb Watson, Southern Living, 4 Aug. 2026

The Royals still put a high priority on pitching, and cleaning house might make replenishing the staff difficult. — Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 3 Aug. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1825, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for clean house

• alehouse
• almshouse
• backhouse
• baghouse
• bakehouse
• bathhouse
• bauhaus
• blockhouse
• boathouse
• brewhouse
• bunkhouse
• clubhouse