wipe the floor with someone

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

to defeat or dominate someone utterly

Literally: clean the floor by wiping
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

The team wiped the floor with their opponents in the championship game

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 “wipe the floor with someone” mean?

to defeat or dominate someone utterly Literally: clean the floor by wiping

Is “wipe the floor with someone” formal or informal?

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