kempt

American  

[kempt] / kɛmpt /

adjective

1. neatly or tidily kept.

   a kempt little cottage.

2. combed, as hair.

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kempt British  

/ kɛmpt /

adjective

1. (of hair) tidy; combed See also unkempt

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Etymology

Origin of kempt

First recorded before 1050; 1925–30 kempt for def. 1; Middle English kempte, kembyd; Old English cemd-, past participle of cemban “to comb”; see comb, unkempt

Explanation

If you're kempt, you're neat and well-groomed. Your always-kempt house will be harder to keep tidy after you adopt six furry puppies. In the U.S., it's much more common to see the word unkempt than kempt, but it's clear the two have opposite meanings. Your unkempt, scraggly beard might contrast, for example, with your brother's closely shaven, kempt face. The unkempt bedroom your sister is happy to inhabit is much messier than your own orderly, uncluttered, kempt room. Kempt shares a root with comb, which explains why it usually describes someone's tidy hair.

Example Sentences

Even less kempt, Walton Goggins gets to play an angry, avenging figure, given to oratory and mind games.

From New York Times • Jan. 9, 2020

His clients remember a kempt businessman who donned a clean, dark-blue smock and never gave his customers a set price.

From Washington Post • Jul. 18, 2015

From DavidHurren: "Didn't Giant Haystacks have something of a WG Grace look, maybe with a less well kempt beard?"

From BBC • Dec. 17, 2010

On press night, thanks to the toss of a coin, we get John Light as the desert drifter, Lee, and Nigel Harman as the kempt screenwriter, Austin.

From The Guardian • May 19, 2010

Brightly colored houses sat prettily in their kempt plots, side by side.

From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez