tidy
Americanadjective
-
tidier,
comparative
-
tidiest
superlative
verb (used with or without object)
-
tidies,
present (3rd person singular)
-
tidied,
past participle, past
-
tidying
present participle
noun
-
tidies
plural
-
any of various articles for keeping things tidy, as a box having small drawers and compartments.
-
an antimacassar.
adjective
-
characterized by or indicating neatness and order
-
informal considerable
a tidy sum of money
verb
noun
-
-
a small container in which odds and ends are kept
-
a container with holes in the bottom, kept in the sink to retain rubbish that might clog the plug hole
-
-
an ornamental protective covering for the back or arms of a chair
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Adjectives
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
tidysimple
-
tidiessimple
-
have tidiedperfect
-
has tidiedperfect
-
am tidyingprogressive
-
are tidyingprogressive
-
is tidyingprogressive
-
have been tidyingperfect progressive
-
has been tidyingperfect progressive
Past
-
tidiedsimple
-
had tidiedperfect
-
was tidyingprogressive
-
were tidyingprogressive
-
had been tidyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of tidy
First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English tidi, tidy “seasonable,” hence “good”; cognate with Dutch tijdig; equivalent to tide 1 + -y 1
Explanation
Use the adjective tidy for something that is neat and clean. If your desk were more tidy, you would be able to find your computer. Tidy (or tidy up) also means “to clean up” and is also a noun for a container for small objects, like scraps or sewing materials. These senses of tidy have a formal or even old-fashioned note. (We’re more likely to say clean, organize, or bin now in everyday conversation.) Tidy is also an informal adjective meaning "large or considerable." If you can put the word tidy before your profit or the sum in your bank account, it’s a good thing.
Vocabulary lists containing tidy
Mr. Popper’s Penguins
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Boy: Tales of Childhood
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"Musée des Beaux Arts" by W.H. Auden
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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:
He puts the authorities' leniency down partly to the tidy and spartan way he operates his business: a bench, umbrella, card reader and table that he folds up and carts away each evening.
From Barron's ● Sep. 9, 2026
Ben White: A tidy display in possession, although he made little impact at either end of the pitch.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026
It was a strange little society of meats that belonged neither behind the butcher counter nor among the premium lunch meats — the thin-sliced turkey in its tidy package, the glossy hunk of honey ham.
From Salon ● Aug. 25, 2026
The funds focus on lower-risk infrastructure businesses, which act as a tidy diversifier between bonds and equities, portfolio manager Bertrand Cliquet told MarketWatch in an interview on Monday.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026
The chest was as neat and tidy as the cabin had been cluttered and dirty.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
Moriarty figures heavily in the opening episodes of “Sherlock & Daughter” too, although Dougray Scott lends a malevolent scruff to him that Park’s interpretation tidies up.
From Salon ● Apr. 16, 2025
Watch: Mouse tidies up man's shed every night.
From BBC ● Jan. 7, 2024
Tears pour down Paul’s face as he tidies up the disheveled uniform looking for words to say goodbye.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 12, 2023
Although the deception predictably comes to a head, as Joy’s husband and daughter act on their suspicions that something is awry, “Call Jane” tidies that mess with baffling brevity.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 25, 2022
“I just thought I would explain, because you seemed so confused, and no wonder, because how many tidies do you encounter this—” “Right,” the man says.
From "Insurgent" by Veronica Roth
In Rybakina, Sabalenka seemed to face a tidier version of herself.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026
Sure, it would be tidier, and feel better, to get all of one’s support from like-minded individuals.
From Slate ● Feb. 15, 2026
"Being a little tidier and keep the bogeys off the scorecard, I think I can have a good weekend and get closer to the leaders."
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2025
Sharing became tidier, too — or at least tidier until the glaze made its move.
From Salon ● Sep. 30, 2025
Lily pulled out a thick album with a fabric cover, much tidier than the battered Big Blue Book Chicken loved so much.
From "Caterpillar Summer" by Gillian McDunn
It's not the tidiest grinder I've ever used, but it's the best for brewed coffee.
From Salon ● Aug. 29, 2022
Sonically too, the music conjures an in-between state, with breezy pop melodies roughed up by strange textures and asymmetric structures that carry even the tidiest songs in unexpected directions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2021
“He has the tidiest and most orderly brain, with the greatest capacity for storing facts, of any man living. . . . All other men are specialists, but his specialism is omniscience.”
From Washington Post ● Oct. 2, 2018
The book was shaped, in collaboration with the composers, by Rick Elice, a writer of “Jersey Boys,” that tidiest of blockbuster jukebox musicals, as well as the ecstatic story-theater piece “Peter and the Starcatcher.”
From New York Times ● Jul. 25, 2018
If their disappearance was the work of shamblers, they were the tidiest shamblers I’ve ever heard of.
From "Dread Nation" by Justina Ireland
One robot tidied cupboards and wiped surfaces, while others put orange juice and milk in the fridge, threw away empty packaging and loaded the dishwasher.
From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026
It is not simply that the curators have tidied up before letting the public in: Woolf’s “writing lodge” at Monk’s House in Sussex, England, for instance, is suspiciously clear of crumpled envelopes and broken cigarette-holders.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 27, 2026
That night, Gil tidied up around the store, cleaned the bathroom, got ready to close for the day.
From Slate ● Mar. 25, 2026
The damaged items were subsequently cleaned up and the area was respectfully tidied, GMP said.
From BBC ● Nov. 26, 2024
The grass around the grave behind Gram’s—the one belonging to Isabella Fortune, Gram’s teacher who died really young—has been tidied up recently, and someone’s planted a little rosebush by it.
From "How to Disappear Completely" by Ali Standish
A posse of extras clad in white jumpsuits and little black aprons would occasionally flood the set, tidying up and moving the furniture into new configurations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
I'm told there is epic desk tidying to make a good impression when the new boss arrives.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026
Donning my academic editor title, I imagined myself tasked with the act of tidying, turning teenage madness, drama, beauty into writing that is still dramatic and beautiful—just grammatically correct.
From Slate ● Mar. 20, 2026
Minister Chung said North Koreans have been spotted "sprucing up" areas near the JSA for the first time this year -- cleaning, pulling weeds, tidying flower beds and taking photos.
From Barron's ● Oct. 25, 2025
Clare loved the chase of Progress, that much he knew—ushering souls, tending to his garden, tidying his cottage.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
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.
