untidy
Americanadjective
-
not tidy or neat; slovenly; disordered.
an untidy room; an untidy person.
-
not well-organized or carried out.
an untidy plan.
verb (used with object)
adjective
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of untidy
Middle English word dating back to 1175–1225; see origin at un- 1, tidy
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:
Yet their pictures take us to places we wouldn’t encounter otherwise and remind us that in addition to being strange, life is frequently untidy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
Happy Birthday to the glorious, untidy, steadfast, magnificent experiment that is the United States.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 2026
In the living room, a pilot rearranges an untidy study desk.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 31, 2026
"It's basically about the satisfaction of starting with something untidy, learning the skills to bring order to the scene, then looking back at a job well done," he said.
From BBC ● Apr. 3, 2026
“Not that the work matters, Casper. Not that it matters at all. But,” she dismissed us crisply, “I’m not going to leave an untidy desk behind for someone else to clean up.”
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
Aunt Marge loved criticizing him, so the untidier he looked, the happier she would be.
From "Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban" by J.K. Rowling
Riddle’s reply came quickly, his writing becoming untidier, as though he was hurrying to tell all he knew.
From "Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets" by J. K. Rowling
Char saw Mrs. Potter, untidier than ever, handing steaming cups across her buffet with incredible rapidity.
From The War-Workers by E.M. Delafield
The room had not much in it, or it would have been untidier; it looked neglected and gloomy, and some dirty plates, suggestive of long-past dinners, were piled on the table.
From The Solitary Summer by Elizabeth
He said he was working very hard, and indeed I could imagine it; his personal appearance, which he had never cherished, being even untidier, and I am obliged to add seedier, than of old.
From The Strand Magazine, Volume V, Issue 27, March 1893 An Illustrated Monthly by Various
He was the untidiest person in the world.
From The Guardian ● May 29, 2013
Laval devotes much time to his toilet, but he is one of the untidiest political figures on earth.
From Time Magazine Archive
Even the shabbiest little girls had a clean white pinafore to hide deficiencies beneath, and the untidiest little boy showed a scrubbed face.
From The Fortunate Youth by William John Locke
Give him time and the untidiest boy in the world will develop into a gentleman, but eternity itself could not evolve a man out of a boy who plays marbles with a cushion!
From Rosemary and Rue by Amber
Her room was the untidiest that Nellie had ever seen, and the tea a picnic.
From The Card, a Story of Adventure in the Five Towns by Arnold Bennett
Never mind all the stuff she has persuaded the untidied masses to extract from their overstuffed homes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 31, 2019
And at night the intrepid traveler is not surprised to return and find the room still unmade, the bureau still undusted and the damp towel still on the untidied washstand.
From Time Magazine Archive
O my chamber's untidied, unmade my bed Though the day has begun to wear!
From Wessex Poems and Other Verses by Thomas Hardy
The remains of a fire untidied the grate; the flimsiest curtains were hung before the windows.
From Sparrows: the story of an unprotected girl by Horace W. C. (Horace Wykeham Can) Newte
You can't tidy anything without untidying yourself; just look at my trousers.
From Manalive by G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton
The one thing I never could stand is a great lout of a man smoking all over my house and going to sleep in his chair after dinner, and untidying everything.
From Getting Married by Bernard Shaw
He hoped that her hands were not untidying him beyond quick repair: he very much disliked having his hair ruffled.
From Burning Sands by Arthur Weigal
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.
