come clean

present singular third person comes clean · participle present coming clean · past came clean

1. idiomaticTo confess; admit the truth.

   "You better come clean, Swan, and tell the whole thing. What was it? Don't talk in circles."

   1921, B. M. Bower, chapter 6, in Sawtooth Ranch

   2 more examples

   Perhaps it is only fair to come clean at the start and confess that I found J.R.R. Tolkien's Unfinished Tales a disappointment.

   1977 October 23, John Gardner, “The World Of Tolkien”, in New York Times, retrieved 12 Sep 2013

   When the sub got stuck, the brass kept the fact under wraps for 32 hours before Russia came clean and asked for foreign help.

   2005 August 8, “Quotes of the Day”, in Time, retrieved 12 Sep 2013

   Synonyms: fess up, own up