fit to be seen

Meanings

1. 1phrasefixed phraseinformal

   tidy, clean, or presentable enough for other people to look at.

   Grammar: Comes after the verb 'be': The room is fit to be seen. It is almost always used with 'not' or 'hardly'.

   Patterns

   • be fit to be seen
   • not fit to be seen
   • hardly fit to be seen

   After the storm, the garden was not fit to be seen.

   She spent an hour cleaning until the kitchen was fit to be seen.

   His shoes were so muddy that they were hardly fit to be seen.

2. 2phrasefixed phraseinformal

   good enough in quality or behavior to be shown or noticed by others.

   Grammar: Used about work, behavior, or results that people will judge: The essay is fit to be seen by the teacher.

   Patterns

   • be fit to be seen by someone
   • not fit to be seen in public

   The first draft was not fit to be seen by anyone but me.

   His behavior at the party was not fit to be seen.

   The painting is now restored and fit to be seen in the museum.

Common combinations

not fit to be seen

The living room was not fit to be seen before the guests arrived.

hardly fit to be seen

After the game, his shirt was hardly fit to be seen.

fit to be seen in public

She refused to leave the house until she was fit to be seen in public.

make something fit to be seen

A quick tidy made the office fit to be seen.

Synonyms and how they differ

presentable

Presentable is a single adjective meaning clean and tidy enough to be seen; fit to be seen is a longer idiom with the same idea.

respectable

Respectable suggests earning social approval, while fit to be seen focuses on appearance and tidiness.

Opposites

Word family

seen verb

past participle of 'see', used in the passive.

seeing noun

the act of using your eyes.

Commonly confused: fit to be seen or fit to see?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “fit to be seen”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

Explore more words