neat
/ˈniːt/ adjective B2- Clean, tidy; free from dirt or impurities. · My room is neat because I tidied it this morning. She has very neat hair.
- Free from contaminants or impurities, unadulterated.
- At full strength, free from dilution (usually with water), undiluted
- Neither straight up nor on the rocks · I like my whisky neat, so you have no need for ice at all.
- 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.
- Having a simple elegance or style; clean, trim, tidy, tasteful. · The front room was neat and carefully arranged for the guests.
- Well-executed or delivered; clever, skillful, precise. · Having the two protagonists meet in the last act was a particularly neat touch.
- Facile; missing complexity or details in the favor of convenience or simplicity. · Courts should not reduce this case to a neat set of legal rules.
Comparative neater · Superlative neatest
From the library
Painted very clear and neat
But I’d better take him his fan and gloves—that is, if I can find them.” As she said this, she came upon a neat little house, on the door of which was a bright brass plate with the name “W.
In her neat black turban hat was the gold-green wing of a macaw.
Very green and neat and precise was that yard, set about on one side with great patriarchal willows and on the other with prim Lombardies.
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