as in tidy
being clean and in good order
a distinguished-looking gentleman with a kempt beard and an old-world manner
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of kempt
The creeping ivy of rap had crawled over their white picket fences, across their kempt green lawns, and around their Victorian homes, weakening the old walls between cultures.
—
Jonathan Rowe, SPIN, 5 June 2023
The whole place is well kempt.
—Amanda Walker, al, 15 Aug. 2020
There was a whiff of mystery, a sense that something more was going on behind those well-kempt exteriors.
—Aaron Gilbreath, Longreads, 9 Feb. 2018
Silence your internal neat freak A well-kempt garden is the toad’s worst enemy.
—Molly Marquand, Good Housekeeping, 16 May 2017
A well-kempt courtyard for visitors conceals the prison’s overcrowding—stuffed to nine times its capacity with up to 250 women sharing a cell.
—National Geographic, 19 Oct. 2016
Jonathan Rowe, SPIN, 5 June 2023
The whole place is well kempt.
—Amanda Walker, al, 15 Aug. 2020
There was a whiff of mystery, a sense that something more was going on behind those well-kempt exteriors.
—Aaron Gilbreath, Longreads, 9 Feb. 2018
Silence your internal neat freak A well-kempt garden is the toad’s worst enemy.
—Molly Marquand, Good Housekeeping, 16 May 2017
A well-kempt courtyard for visitors conceals the prison’s overcrowding—stuffed to nine times its capacity with up to 250 women sharing a cell.
—National Geographic, 19 Oct. 2016
Recent Examples of Synonyms for kempt
Adjective
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There, the music switches to distant, classical pomp and the actor takes a seat at a tidy press junket-style set.—
Jon Blistein,
Rolling Stone,
8 Oct. 2025
-
Tenacious, fearless, tidy, good on the ball and defensively tight for the most part.—
Tim Spiers,
New York Times,
7 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
Ugg Duffield Throw Blanket II The blanket is made from a buttery-soft cotton blend and has a velvety finish with a trim border around the edges that improves durability and prevents fraying.—
Maggie Horton,
PEOPLE,
27 Sep. 2025
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Recall: Ford recalls 100,000 sedans for faulty door trim.—
Greta Cross,
USA Today,
24 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Scaling Mews to unicorn status hasn’t been neat.—
Eleanor Pringle,
Fortune,
10 Oct. 2025
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As Arsenal signed off for the October international break top of the Premier League, Bukayo Saka passed a wonderfully neat milestone.—
Art de Roché,
New York Times,
9 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Kempt.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/kempt. Accessed 16 Oct. 2025.
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