1. come clean - Verb
2. come clean - Phrase
come clean (third-person singular simple present comes clean, present participle coming clean, simple past came clean, past participle come clean)
(idiomatic) To confess; admit the truth.
The failure of the system to deal quickly was attributable to Nixon's lying, stonewalling and refusal to come clean. So it took 26 months for the final truth to be known. Bob Woodward
Come clean with a child heart Laugh as peaches in the summer wind Let rain on a house roof be a song Let the writing on your face be a smell of apple orchards on late June. Carl Sandburg
The president's budget request today demonstrates his unwillingness to come clean on the true costs of his agenda. A penny saved is not a penny earned if at the end of the day you still owe a quarter. Mary Landrieu
It's all over," he said to Cooke. "You've got to come clean. The notes show us the story is wrong. We know it. We can show you point by point how you concocted it. Bob Woodward
I am mildly addicted to Mucinex-D. I feel like I should just come clean about that. Andrew Rannells
In some ways it's taken me decades to come clean and make honest work - and still to this day, sometimes I find myself wanting to hide behind my work and deny the more biographical aspects. David Knopfler