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:
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 going to look a bit untidy on the way through. Big reforms always do," Communications Minister Anika Wells has said.
From BBC ● Dec. 6, 2025
Tries from warp-speed back-row pair Ben Earl and Henry Pollock helped England see off Australia as their power-packed bench ultimately swung an untidy opening autumn Test.
From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2025
He had none of the vagueness or the apologetic awkwardness that one usually associates with untidy, absentminded men.
From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
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
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
Polly looked untidier than ever; she wore a slatternly wrapper, and her hair was thrust unbrushed into its net.
From Australia Felix by Richardson, Henry Handel
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
The handwriting suddenly grew untidier than ever; two great blots defaced the paper; the style became feebly hysterical.
From Poor Miss Finch by Collins, Wilkie
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
No light was in the room, but the gas-lamp of the yard shed flickering and uncertain gleams through the window into the barest and untidiest of chambers.
From Left to Ourselves or, John Headley's Promise. by Shaw, Catharine
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
He shut himself off from the world, and stopped his ears; lived in the untidiest of rooms, and would not have his garden tended, "preferring to see all things wild and savage about him."
From Great Pictures, As Seen and Described by Famous Writers by Singleton, Esther
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 Hardy, Thomas
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 Newte, Horace W. C. (Horace Wykeham Can)
You can't tidy anything without untidying yourself; just look at my trousers.
From Manalive by Chesterton, G. K. (Gilbert Keith)
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 Shaw, Bernard
He hoped that her hands were not untidying him beyond quick repair: he very much disliked having his hair ruffled.
From Burning Sands by Weigal, Arthur
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.
