Sluggish Meath shook off a slow start in Navan before powering past Clare to pick up their first win of the Division 2 campaign.
The Royals were wasteful initially but opened up with a third-quarter burst of scoring to burn off visiting Clare and ignite their promotion bid following a draw in Roscommon.
Padraig McKeever, a back-to-back county title winner with Simonstown Gaels, top scored for Meath with six points.
Graham Reilly weighed in with four points while play-maker Cillian O'Sullivan pulled the strings ahead of new captain Bryan Menton in midfield.
There was a strong defensive performance too from the outsanding wing-back Brian Conlon.
Meath head north to play Cavan next Saturday, while Clare also have a derby date on Sunday against Tipperary.
Meath will hope for a brighter start next time out because they were on top throughout this first-half yet only led 0-06 to 0-04 at the break.
Former captain Reilly fired three of those points for the hosts but shot tamely at goal early on while midfielder Adam Flanagan also fumbled one.
Meath dropped seven point attempts short in total in the half, much to the frustration of boss Andy McEntee who brought on Eamon Wallace before the break.
All of those errors helped to keep Clare in the game and the sides were level four times up to 0-04 apiece.
Pearse Lillis and Jamie Malone fired Clare's two points from play in the opening half with goalkeeper Killian Roche and Gary Brennan booting the other two from placed balls.
Back-to-back Meath points approaching the break from Reilly and Bryan McMahon, the latter following a clever quick free by Conlon, left the Royals in pole position.
But it was far from a classic contest and the hope was that the standard would improve after the restart.
It did, and that was largely down to Meath finally finding their range and reeling off seven points without reply to take firm control of proceedings.
International Rules ace Brennan initially pointed for Clare to leave just one in it but Meath responded with that seven-in-a-row to open up a 0-12 to 0-05 lead.
Free-taker McKeever was to the fore while the industrious James McEntee curled one over from a tight angle.
Brennan broke the scoring siege with a 54th minute Clare point but Meath responded with eight points on the trot this time to win with plenty to spare.
MEATH: Andrew Colgan; Donal Keogan, Conor McGill, Seamus Lavin; Brian Conlon, Brian Power, Shane McEntee; Bryan Menton, Adam Flanagan; James McEntee (0-03), Padraig McKeever (0-06, 0-03f), Graham Reilly (0-04); Bryan McMahon (0-02), Cillian O'Sullivan, Joey Wallace.
Subs: Eamon Wallace (0-03) for J Wallace, Daniel O'Neill for Power, Sean Tobin (0-03, 0-01 45, 0-01f) for McMahon, Caolach Halligan for Reilly, Ben Brennan for O'Sullivan, Shane Glynn for Keogan.
CLARE: Killian Roche (0-01, 0-01 45); Cian O'Dea, Cillian Brennan, Gordon Kelly; Ciaran Russell, Aaron Fitzgerald, Pearse Lillis (0-01); Gary Brennan (0-03, 0-01f), Cathal O'Connor; Jamie Malone (0-01), Eoin Cleary, Gearoid O'Brien; Conor Finucane, Keelan Sexton, Eimhin Courtney.
Subs: Eoghan Collins for C Brennan, Alan Sweeney for Finucane, S O'Donoghue for Courtney, David Tubridy (0-01, 0-01f) for O'Brien, Martin O'Leary for Cleary.
Referee: S Hurson (Tyrone).
