Meaning & use
tidy
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Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Arranged neatly, with everything in its correct place.
Grammar: Gradable adjective; comparative 'tidier', superlative 'tidiest'. Often used after 'keep' or 'look'.
Patterns
- keep something tidy
- a tidy room
Her desk is always tidy, with pens lined up and papers stacked.
Please keep the kitchen tidy while you're cooking.
He's much tidier than his brother.
verbtransitive or intransitive
To make a place or things neat by putting them in order.
Grammar: Often used with 'up': 'tidy up your room' or 'I need to tidy up'.
Patterns
- tidy up
- tidy something up
- tidy something away
I'll tidy up the living room before the guests arrive.
She tidied her papers into a neat pile.
We spent the morning tidying the garden.
Word forms
| comparative | tidier |
|---|---|
| superlative | tidiest |
| third person singular | tidies |
| past tense | tidied |
| past participle | tidied |
| -ing form | tidying |
Common combinations
- keep tidy
- She likes to keep her workspace tidy.
- tidy up
- Tidy up your toys before bedtime.
- neat and tidy
- The garden looked neat and tidy after the cleanup.
- tidy sum
- He earned a tidy sum from the sale.
Synonyms and how they differ
- neat
- Similar, but 'neat' often emphasizes order and cleanliness, while 'tidy' focuses on things being in their proper places.
- orderly
- More formal; suggests a systematic arrangement, often of larger things or processes.
- spick-and-span
- Informal and stronger, meaning extremely clean and tidy.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: tidy or tidy?
tidy vs tidy
Not to be confused with 'tide' (the rise and fall of the sea) or 'tidy' as a verb meaning 'to make neat'.
Practice
Choose the correct word: 'Please ___ your room before dinner.'
Choose one answer.
'Tidy up' is the common phrasal verb meaning to make a place neat. 'Tidy' alone can be used, but 'tidy up' is more natural here. 'Tidy of' and 'tidy on' are not correct.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “tidy”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.