Faire table rase

Question:

How do I translate faire table rase into English?

Answer:

The expression faire table rase comes from the Latin tabula rasa, which means scraped tablet or clean slate. In fact, most bilingual dictionaries give make a clean sweep for faire table rase, but there are other possibilities.

Here are some other suggestions: do away with, get rid of, go back to square one, make a clean sweep, scrap, throw away, throw out, wipe the slate clean.

For example,

• faire table rase d'une pratique désuète
  do away with (or get rid of) an outdated practice
• faire table rase et recommencer à zéro
  go back to square one and start again from scratch
• faire table rase du passé
  make a clean sweep of the past
• faire table rase de tout le travail déjà effectué
  scrap all the work that has already been done
• faire table rase d'une mauvaise idée
  throw away (or throw out) a bad idea
• voici une occasion de faire table rase
  here is an opportunity to wipe the slate clean