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.
Yet, I live in the messy, gray middle, the waiting and wondering, a category that is rarely so clean-cut.
From Slate • May 6, 2026
It was doubly bold, because Seaver was a clean-cut former Marine not given to agitation, and the World Series hadn’t even started.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 27, 2026
Russian comedian Andrei Bocharov, 59, made his name as a clean-cut "Mama's boy" playing an awkward character in an absurdist 1990s TV show about post-Soviet life.
From Barron's • Feb. 22, 2026
“The best investors in the world all operate with very clean-cut, black-and-white rules with respect to managing risk.”
From MarketWatch • Oct. 19, 2025
Just a regular guy, church- going, on a mission, clean-cut.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
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.
