neat
/ˈniːt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.99 in modern English
4
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Clean, tidy; free from dirt or impurities.
adj
Free from contaminants or impurities, unadulterated.
adj
adj
Example Sentences
- "My room is neat because I tidied it this morning. She has very neat hair."
- "Then his sallow face brightened, for the hall had been carefully furnished, and was very clean. ¶ There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls."
- "A very neat old woman, still in her good outdoor coat and best beehive hat, was sitting at a polished mahogany table on whose surface there were several scored scratches so deep that a triangular piece of the veneer had come cleanly away,[…]."
- "1932, Winston Churchill, Painting as a Pastime, New York: Cornerstone Library, 1965, At one side of the palette there is white, at the other black; and neither is ever used ‘neat.’"
- "1595, George Peele, The Old Wives’ Tale, The Malone Society Reprints, 1908, lines 464-465, A cup of neate wine of Orleance, That never came neer the brewers of England."
- "From this same Head, this Fountain-head divine, / For different Palates springs a different Wine! / In which no Tricks, to strengthen, or to thin ’em— / Neat as imported—no French Brandy in em’—"
Etymology
From Middle English nete, net, nette, from Anglo-Norman neit (“good, desirable, clean”), a variant of Old French net, nette (“clean, clear, pure”), from Latin nitidus (“gleaming”), derived from nitēre (“to shine”). Doublet of net and nitid. Cognate with German nett (“nice, kind”). Compare also nait.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Usage
- Archaic
- Canadian usage
- American usage
- Colloquial
- Obsolete
- Informal
- Uncountable