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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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
-
Jonathan Gregg plays pedal steel, an ambient-country must, and has a tidy Americana background.—
Brian Howe,
Pitchfork,
12 May 2026
-
Keeping the surrounding area tidy also helps.—
Jessica Safavimehr,
Southern Living,
12 May 2026
Adjective
-
The new limited series was adapted by Zoe Kazan, in a neat bit of meta packaging.—
Brittany Allen,
Literary Hub,
14 May 2026
-
For such a long and winding season, the last game was also a surprisingly neat bow.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
12 May 2026
Adjective
-
Range is as much as 312 miles, depending on trim level.—
James Raia,
Mercury News,
4 May 2026
-
Flour tortillas have been having a moment here for a while, and now the trim, tortilla-forward northern-Mexican burrito has stepped into the spotlight.—
Helen Rosner,
New Yorker,
3 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Kempt.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/kempt. Accessed 19 May. 2026.
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