natty
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of natty
Explanation
Natty means current in style, both of dress and manners. A natty dresser is someone who is very stylish and has a snappy attitude. He may even be wearing a natty fedora. Natty is an adjective that comes from the 18th century. Originally it was a slang term, perhaps related to the adjective neat. These days, if you say someone “looks neat,” it might sound like they look clean, but it also can mean that they look fashionable and put together. That’s what natty means, too. Someone who is natty is wearing fashionable clothes and is generally hip.
Vocabulary lists containing natty
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
100 SAT Words Beginning with "N"
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
The Field Guide to the North American Teenager
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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.
See Examples For:
The best advice for junior-level financiers, according to Tim Gunn, the natty fashion author and academic: Read the room.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 7, 2026
In Hudson, N.Y., on a recent and rainy Friday night, some 35 people sat on a natty hodgepodge of couches and high-backed seats for the Queer Ass Film Club.
From New York Times ● Feb. 1, 2024
“Our mission all year was natty or bust, so we know we got to finish the job.”
From Washington Times ● Jan. 2, 2024
But if a natty — not just a Pac-12 title — is the goal, drastic gains must be made on the back end.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 17, 2023
My mother had died about eight months earlier, and my eighty-four-year-old father, in a natty seersucker suit, sat in a reserved section with the school board president, an old friend.
From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove
Irons, however brilliant, is a generation older than Hardy was in 1914, and Patel is taller and nattier than the more corpulent Ramanujan, who was ill at ease in Western dress.
From Nature ● Mar. 29, 2016
Two weeks ago, the Great Googa Mooga Festival descended upon Prospect Park in Brooklyn, which abuts on its left some of the borough’s nattier neighborhoods.
From Salon ● Jun. 10, 2012
The other rat is three feet shorter but nattier, wearing a suit and tie and clutching two big bags of money.
From New York Times ● Aug. 19, 2010
TV went to Chicago armed with better makeup artists, nattier dress and more fancy electronic gadgets than ever before.
From Time Magazine Archive
“What were you aboard your last ship?” asked he of a smart-looking seaman on the right of the line as they stood across the deck facing him, who appeared neater and nattier than the rest.
From Crown and Anchor Under the Pen'ant by Greene, John B.
All the sweeps wore their smartest, nattiest, mostly black best, even though the September sun delivered summer temperatures.
From New York Times ● Sep. 28, 2019
I expect my elected officials to look at least as pulled-together as the nattiest customer at any given Buffalo Wild Wings.
From Slate ● Jan. 11, 2019
He became one of the House’s nattiest dressers, with a preference for pinstripe suits and polished shoes.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 30, 2018
Next day, dressed his nattiest, talking his cockiest, Mayor Walker entered the courtroom with a grin.
From Time Magazine Archive
He was just returning to sit by his chum when the nattiest, sprucest- looking soldier imaginable, wearing the olive-drab fatigue uniform of the Army and overcoat to match, stepped into the room.
From Dick Prescott's First Year at West Point by Hancock, H. Irving (Harrie Irving)
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.
