1,400 new words in our dictionary! — Parasocial, glow-up, promposal & more
1,400 new words in our dictionary! — More

neatening

verb

present participle of neaten
as in trimming
to make neat neatened the living room in anticipation of company

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of neatening If your shrub is mostly dead at the bottom, try shaping it into an attractive tree form by removing lower limbs and neatening the top. — Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 25 Apr. 2026 Several people milled around, neatening the area, touching up Cage’s makeup. — Susan Orlean, New Yorker, 11 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for neatening
  1. trimming
  2. organizing
  3. arranging
Verb
  • Hutton snuck in a right-footed shot from a narrow angle in the 73rd minute, trimming the lead.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 17 Sep. 2026
  • Wall Street is trimming targets while the sector lags the market.
    — Tony Zhang, CNBC, 16 Sep. 2026
Definition of trimming
Verb
  • Comparing unauthorized immigration to an invasion has become increasingly common among politicians including Nigel Farage of Reform UK, and far-right groups that have been active in organizing and attending anti-immigrant protests.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 16 Sep. 2026
  • Some need only light intelligence—converting structured output into natural language, organizing OCR results or classifying simple requests.
    — Nitin Gupta, Forbes.com, 15 Sep. 2026
Definition of organizing
Verb
  • The short clip highlights a lavish chandelier and floral centerpieces, and even shows Melania carefully arranging elegant silverware and glassware on the dinner table.
    — StyleCaster Editors, StyleCaster, 19 Sep. 2026
  • For this development, the team worked with two-dimensional hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites, arranging alternating organic and inorganic layers into precise crystalline structures.
    — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 18 Sep. 2026
Definition of arranging

Browse Nearby Words

neatened
neatening
neatens
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Neatening.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/neatening. Accessed 23 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

Why do we say 'fly off the handle'?
See More

Popular

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
crayons-in-a-circle
Guess the Color Quiz Questions that use the whole box of crayons.
See All