start with a clean slate

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Begin anew, free from past mistakes or influences.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Bắt đầu lại mà không bị ảnh hưởng bởi sai lầm hoặc quá khứ

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: start with a completely clean slate
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

After the divorce, she decided to start with a clean slate in a new city.

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “start with a clean slate” mean?

Begin anew, free from past mistakes or influences. Literally: start with a completely clean slate

Is “start with a clean slate” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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