neat
1 Americanadjective
-
neater,
comparative
-
neatest
superlative
-
in a pleasingly orderly and clean condition.
a neat room.
- Antonyms:
- sloppy
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habitually orderly and clean in appearance or habits.
a neat person.
-
of a simple, pleasing appearance, style, design, etc..
a neat cottage.
-
cleverly effective in character or execution: a neat solution.
a neat scheme;
a neat solution.
- Synonyms:
- wonderful, well-planned
-
Slang. great; excellent; fine.
What a neat car!
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clever, dexterous, or apt.
She gave a neat characterization of the old woman.
- Synonyms:
- adroit
- Antonyms:
- maladroit
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(of liquid, especially liquor) straight.
- Antonyms:
- mixed
-
Building Trades.
-
(of cement) without sand or other aggregate.
-
(of plaster) without any admixture except hair or fiber.
-
-
net.
neat profits.
adverb
noun
-
neat
plural
adjective
-
clean, tidy, and orderly
-
liking or insisting on order and cleanliness; fastidious
-
smoothly or competently done; efficient
a neat job
-
pat or slick
his excuse was suspiciously neat
-
(of alcoholic drinks) without added water, lemonade, etc; undiluted
-
a less common word for net 2
neat profits
-
slang good; pleasing; admirable
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of neat1
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English net “spruce, trim, clean,” from Middle French, from Latin nitidus “shining, polished, handsome, spruce,” equivalent to nit(ēre) “to shine” + -idus adjective suffix; see -id 4
Origin of neat2
First recorded before 900; Middle English net, nete, nette, Old English nēat, cognate with Old Norse naut, Middle Dutch noot; akin to Old English nēotan “to use, possess”
Explanation
If you're neat, you're clean and tidy. A neat roommate is usually easier to live with than a sloppy one. And a neat mustache is probably better than a big bushy one. Your neat handwriting might have made you the pride of your third-grade teacher, and your neat hairstyle will pass muster with your ballet instructor (who insists on a very tidy bun on every dancer's head). You can also use the word neat to mean "great," "cool," or "super." Neat comes from the Old French net, "clear or pure," from the Latin nitidus, "gleaming." Since the 1930s, it's also meant "very good."
Vocabulary lists containing neat
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:
And while the facts of this oft-told story are, for the most part, accurate, “I Am Rocky” feels too neat, a movie that relies on our love for “Rocky,” the movie and the character.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026
That neat replacement story is now comprehensively wrong, largely thanks to studies like the one published in Nature by Qiaomei Fu from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and colleagues.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 5, 2026
Leo will come right up to the doors of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a neat brick church where workers are racing against the clock to build a stage for his arrival.
From Barron's ● Nov. 1, 2026
“It’s how to take technical deep dives into strategies and tell those stories in a neat, accessible way that’s relatable.”
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 23, 2026
Then Lord Peter was before her, with a neat bow from the neck as her hand came up.
From "Secrets at Sea" by Richard Peck
As I thinned out the garage shelves—recycling old paint, giving away a box of used electric outlets, listing plumbing supplies on Craigslist’s “free stuff” section—the shelves grew neater.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
Why is your instinct as a musician to go for something neater?
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2025
Roger Rose, from Burton Latimer, where Kettering's ground is, is repairing a previous "chicken wire" fence with neater plastic mesh.
From BBC ● Nov. 16, 2024
He was dressed in a suit and tie, with his once signature curly, unkempt hair cut into a neater trim.
From Reuters ● Oct. 3, 2023
“Wow, Kelly. Your room’s even neater than usual.”
From "George" by Alex Gino
Instead it was decided one big announcement would be the neatest option.
From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2026
He was apparently not the neatest of scientists, and the show riffs on other scientists who frown on his untidy habits.
From New York Times ● Oct. 21, 2022
I never thought he was the neatest person.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 13, 2022
The union drive was far from the neatest thing to roll off Chipotle’s famous burrito assembly line.
From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2022
“He always has the neatest desk in the class. He’d better or he’ll hear from his uncle. Do you know him?”
From "The World According to Humphrey" by Betty G. Birney
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