kempt

Meaning

1. 1adjectivecomparableold-fashioned

   Tidy and well groomed, especially of hair, clothing, or a garden; the opposite of unkempt.

   Grammar: Used before a noun or after a linking verb, and most often in jokes that play on unkempt: a kempt lawn.

   Patterns

   • look kempt
   • a kempt appearance

   After a haircut and a shave, he looked remarkably kempt.

   The garden was neat and kempt, with every hedge trimmed.

   She prefers a kempt, orderly desk to a cluttered one.

Common combinations

neat and kempt

The cottage was neat and kempt, with a freshly swept path.

kempt appearance

He worked hard to keep a kempt appearance on camera.

kempt lawn

The retired gardener took pride in his kempt lawn.

well kempt

The well kempt hedges lined the whole driveway.

look kempt

She does not always look kempt after a long journey.

Synonyms and how they differ

tidy

Tidy is the ordinary everyday word, while kempt sounds deliberately old-fashioned or playful.

neat

Neat stresses careful arrangement and is usable for almost anything, whereas kempt is mainly for hair, dress, or grounds.

groomed

Groomed focuses on the effort someone made with their appearance, which kempt only hints at.

trim

Trim suggests something cut back and kept in good shape, such as hedges, more than a general air of order.

Opposites

Word family

unkempt adjective

untidy or messy, the common word from which kempt is a back-formation

unkemptly adverb

in an untidy, messy way

unkemptness noun

the state of being untidy

Commonly confused: kempt or unkempt?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “kempt”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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