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Antonyms for come clean

Grammar : Verb
Spell : kleen
Phonetic Transcription : klin

Definition of come clean

Origin :
  • Old English clæne "free from dirt or filth; pure, chaste, innocent; open, in the open," of beasts, "ritually safe to eat," from West Germanic *klainoz "clear, pure" (cf. Old Saxon kleni "dainty, delicate," Old Frisian klene "small," Old High German kleini "delicate, fine, small," German klein "small;" English preserves the original Germanic sense), from PIE root *gel- "bright, gleaming" (cf. Greek glene "eyeball," Old Irish gel "bright").
  • "Largely replaced by clear, pure in the higher senses" [Weekley], but as a verb (mid-15c.) it has largely usurped what once belonged to cleanse. Meaning "whole, entire" is from c.1300 (clean sweep in the figurative sense is from 1821). Sense of "innocent" is from c.1300; that of "not lewd" is from 1867; that of "not carrying anything forbidden" is from 1938; that of "free of drug addiction" is from 1950s. To come clean "confess" is from 1919, American English.
  • verb tell the truth
Example sentences :
  • The tips of their bills do come clean up to the base of the mother's mandibles.
  • Extract from : « The Foot-path Way » by Bradford Torrey
  • If they come clean, well an' good, they git their original two shares.
  • Extract from : « A Man to His Mate » by J. Allan Dunn
  • Come on—come clean, as the detectives say—at least, in books.
  • Extract from : « The Orchard Secret » by Cleo Garis
  • Then suppose you come clean and tell the Cubs everything you know.
  • Extract from : « Dan Carter and the Money Box » by Mildred A. Wirt
  • I'm going to come clean, not because I'm afraid of you, but because I'm going to clear up the girl.
  • Extract from : « The Garden of Eden » by Max Brand
  • He was poor, but with the never-failing well on Garrison Hill he could come clean as the richest to his prayers.
  • Extract from : « Major Vigoureux » by A. T. Quiller-Couch
  • Would he come clean through the moil, winning honor and his place among men?
  • Extract from : « The Promise » by James B. Hendryx
  • After some bargaining he finally agreed to phone his managingeditor and propose I'd "come clean" for twenty dollars.
  • Extract from : « Greener Than You Think » by Ward Moore
  • Ye don't mean to say you come clean in here this stormy day to try and sell that farm to me?
  • Extract from : « Hiram The Young Farmer » by Burbank L. Todd
  • And when you did come clean up here, why didnt you come to my shack and stay?
  • Extract from : « The Corner House Girls Snowbound » by Grace Brooks Hill

Synonyms for come clean

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019