clean-cut
Americanadjective
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having distinct, regular shape.
a face with clean-cut features.
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clearly outlined.
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neat and wholesome.
a polite, clean-cut young man.
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unambiguously clear; unmistakable; clear-cut.
The case against him is a clean-cut one.
adjective
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clearly outlined; neat
clean-cut lines of a ship
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definite
a clean-cut decision in boxing
Etymology
Origin of clean-cut
First recorded in 1835–45
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Clean cut and amiable, they were criticized by some folk artists for being too slick and for avoiding political statements.
From Washington Times • Jan. 28, 2020
Clean cut, Bible-observing and without a hint of controversy, the 21-year-old is even still in a relationship with his high-school girlfriend, Annie Verret.
From The Guardian • Jul. 11, 2015
Clean cut, with boyish good looks and a friendly, engaging manner, he frowned as he addressed that issue recently over breakfast in SoHo.
From New York Times • Mar. 6, 2011
Great, bright portal, Shelf of rock, Rocks fitted in long ledges, Rocks fitted to dark, to silver-granite, To lighter rock— Clean cut, white against white.
From Some Imagist Poets, 1916 An Annual Anthology by Aldington, Richard
Why may we not, why dare we not, Clean cut its knot, its painful knot?
From Rowena & Harold A Romance in Rhyme of an Olden Time, of Hastyngs and Normanhurst by Pryer, William Stephen
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
