neat and tidy
4
1.4
- adjective
:
ordenado y limpio
- After the party, they made sure the living room was neat and tidy again.
There's a whole chapter about truth and I'm like, the truth isn't neat and tidy and it it's strangely complex.
- There's a whole chapter about truth and I'm like, the truth isn't neat and tidy and it it's strangely complex.
Examples
-
The house was always neat and tidy, reflecting her attention to detail.
-
We make our books like we make our beds, all neat and tidy.
-
The house was neat and tidy.
Fiction book (1997) -
But here I am, packing up her life all neat and tidy.
-
Instead, she saw a neat and tidy room with a big bed, a table, and chairs.
Fiction book (2001) -
The room is neat and tidy, with an antiseptic smell to it.
Fiction book (1995) -
A farmhouse, just as neat and tidy as before, stood taking in the sunshine.
Fiction book (2002) -
Please remember, to leave your desks and lockers neat and tidy and exit the school in an orderly fashion.
-
Everything was neat and tidy: sharpened pencils, rubber bands, thumbtacks, blank notepads, an ancient slide rule.
Fiction book (2001) -
He organized his workspace so that everything was neat and tidy.
Synonyms
144
1.0
Clean and tidy with things in order
55
2.4
Arranged in a tidy, organized way
47
1.0
Having things in order with no mess
36
5.9
Completely clean and neat with no marks or stains
7
1.8
Neat and in good condition because someone looks after it
5
4.0
Free of extra things and distractions, simple and tidy
3
4.2
Very clean and tidy, looking almost new
3
4.6
Neat and attractive, often dressed or decorated for a special occasion
3
4.9
Completely clean and tidy with no dust or dirt
1
4.1
Very clean and tidy with no dirt or marks
Neat and clean with everything in its place
Neat and well arranged, like a tidy desk or garden
Antonyms
How Tidy
Surface Forms
Morphology
Both constituents 'neat' and 'tidy' individually mean clean/orderly, and the coordinating conjunction 'and' simply reinforces that same sense rather than creating a novel idiomatic meaning. This straightforward, compositional pattern is cross-linguistically common and readily derivable by a B1 learner who knows the component words.
Etymology
Neat and tidy comes from a simple image: imagine someone folding clothes so each item is neat and putting everything in its place so the room looks tidy. That's why neat and tidy means 'clean, orderly, and well-organized'.