Neat

/ˈniːt/ · adjective

Meaning

Clean, tidy; free from dirt or impurities..

Definitions by Sense

1. Clean, tidy; free from dirt or impurities.
2. Free from contaminants; unadulterated, undiluted. Particularly of liquor and cocktails; see usage below.
3. (chemistry) Conditions with a liquid reagent or gas performed with no standard solvent or cosolvent.
4. (archaic) With all deductions or allowances made; net.
5. Having a simple elegance or style; clean, trim, tidy, tasteful.
6. Well-executed or delivered; clever, skillful, precise.
7. Facile; missing complexity or details in the favor of convenience or simplicity.
8. (Canada, US, colloquial) Good, excellent, desirable; interesting; cool.

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,[…].

I like my whisky 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.

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.’

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’—

The Arbuzov reaction is performed by adding the bromide to the phosphite, neat.  The molecular beam was neat acetylene.

Synonyms for neat

Antonyms for neat

Related Words

Word Forms

• neater
• neatest
• neats
• neat

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

Practice and Learn More

Frequently Asked Questions