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Business vocabularyphrasal verb · /klɪər əˈweɪ/

clear away

In simple English

To remove unnecessary files, outdated data, or obstacles that prevent progress or slow down system performance.

Someone heard a coworker say they need to "clear away" something and wants to know what action this means.

At a glanceCEFR B1–B2
Commonness
Versatility
FormalityCasualFormalNeutral
Spoken ↔ WrittenSpokenWrittenBoth
Directness ↔ DiplomaticDirectDiplomaticNeutral
Region

Say it like this

✓Let me clear away these old branches before we start.
✓We need to clear away the technical debt from last quarter.
✓I'll clear away the blockers so we can move forward.
✓Can you clear away the unused dependencies?
✓First, let's clear away the legacy code.

Real examples

Standup

"Today I'm going to clear away the temporary files that are slowing down our test environment."

Slack message

"Hey, can someone clear away the old feature flags? They're causing confusion."

GitHub PR

"This PR clears away deprecated API endpoints that are no longer in use."

Jira ticket

"Clear away outdated documentation from the wiki before the new release."

Retrospective

"We should clear away the process bottlenecks that slowed us down this sprint."

Sprint planning

"First priority is to clear away the backlog items that are no longer relevant."

Pair programming

"Let's clear away these console.log statements before we commit."

Don't say this

✕I will clear the old files.
✓I will clear away the old files.— The phrasal verb 'clear away' is more natural when talking about removing unwanted items. 'Clear' alone sounds incomplete.
✕Let's clear away this bug.
✓Let's fix this bug.— 'Clear away' is for removing things, not fixing problems. Use 'fix' or 'resolve' for bugs.
✕I cleared away the meeting.
✓I canceled the meeting.— 'Clear away' is for physical or digital items, not events. Use 'cancel' or 'remove from calendar' for meetings.

Other forms

base form

clear away

"We need to clear away the old logs."

third person singular

clears away

"She clears away unused variables in her code reviews."

past tense

cleared away

"The team cleared away the blockers yesterday."

present participle

clearing away

"I'm clearing away the outdated configs now."

past participle

cleared away

"The old data has been cleared away."

Often used with

clear away blockersRemove obstacles that stop progress
clear away technical debtRemove accumulated old code or shortcuts
clear away old filesDelete files no longer needed
clear away dependenciesRemove unused packages or libraries
clear away clutterRemove unnecessary items (code, files, tasks)

Similar words

clean upMore casual, often used for general tidying
removeMore direct and formal, works in documentation
deleteSpecifically for digital files or data
get rid ofVery casual, common in spoken English
purgeMore technical, implies complete removal

Opposites

addkeepaccumulateretainstore

Practice

Try it

4 quick exercises

Choose the most natural sentence

1. You want to tell your team you will delete old test data.

Find the error

2. We need to clear away this production bug before release.

Complete the sentence

3. The sysadmin _____ the temporary files to free up disk space.

Rewrite naturally

4. Change 'Delete the old branches' to use 'clear away'.

More words

clean uprefactordeprecateblockertechnical debtlegacy code

Questions

Quick poll

Have you said "clear away" in a standup this week?

Want more structured practice like this? Our English for Programmers course covers real workplace English in depth.

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