neat
/ˈniːt/ adjective, interjection, noun, proper noun
Forms neater neatest neats
- adjective Clean, tidy; free from dirt or impurities. “My room is neat because I tidied it this morning. She has very neat hair.”
- adjective Free from contaminants or impurities, unadulterated.
- adjective (of wine or liquors): At full strength, free from dilution (usually with water), undiluted
- adjective (of liquors or cocktails): Neither straight up nor on the rocks “I like my whisky neat, so you have no need for ice at all.”
- adjective (chemistry) Conditions with a liquid reagent or gas performed with no standard solvent or cosolvent. “The Arbuzov reaction is performed by adding the bromide to the phosphite, neat. The molecular beam was neat acetylene.”
- adjective (archaic) With all deductions or allowances made; net.
- adjective Having a simple elegance or style; clean, trim, tidy, tasteful. “The front room was neat and carefully arranged for the guests.”
- adjective Well-executed or delivered; clever, skillful, precise. “Having the two protagonists meet in the last act was a particularly neat touch.”
- interjection Used to signify a job well done.
- interjection Used to signify approval.
- noun (informal) An artificial intelligence researcher who believes that solutions should be elegant, clear and provably correct. Compare scruffy.
- noun (archaic) A bull or cow.
- noun (archaic) Cattle collectively.
- proper noun A surname from Middle English.
Synonyms
nolt orderly refined tasteful clean bang-up bully corking cracking dandy great groovy keen nifty not bad peachy slap-up swell smashing straight full-strength
Antonyms
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.
From Middle English net, neet, from Old English nēat (“animal, beast, ox, cow, cattle”), from Proto-West Germanic *naut, from Proto-Germanic *nautą (“foredeal, profit, property, livestock”), from Proto-Indo-European *newd- (“to acquire, make use of”). Cognate with Dutch noot (“cow, cattle”, in compounds), dialectal German Noß (“livestock”), Alemannic German Nooss (“young sheep or goat”), Swedish nöt (“cattle”), Icelandic naut (“cattle, bull”) and Faroese neyt (“cattle”). More at note.
English metonymic occupational surname for a herdsman or a nickname for someone thought to resemble an ox or a cow, from Middle English neat (“ox, cow”), from Old English neat.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Cattle of the genus Bos, as distinguished from horses, sheep, and goats; an animal of the genus Bos; as, a neat's tongue; a neat's foot. Chaucer.
- adjective Of or pertaining to the genus Bos, or to cattle of that genus; as, neat cattle.
- adjective Free from that which soils, defiles, or disorders; clean; cleanly; tidy.
- adjective Free from what is unbecoming, inappropriate, or tawdry; simple and becoming; pleasing with simplicity; tasteful; chaste; as, a neat style; a neat dress.
Etymology [AS. neát; akin to OHG. n, Icel. naut, Sw. nöt, Dan. nöd, and to AS. neótan to make use of, G. geniessen, Goth. niutan to have a share in, have joy of, Lith. nauda use, profit.]
Etymology [See neat, n.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “neat”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details