come clean
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
Be completely honest.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
Oh yes, and I suppose I'd better come clean.
' Come clean with me, Mister Cowley.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “come clean” mean?
Be completely honest.
Is “come clean” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.