neat S2 /niːt/ BrE AmE adjective ( comparative neater , superlative neatest )
[ Date: 1500-1600 ; Language: French ; Origin: net , from Latin nitidus 'bright, neat' , from nitere 'to shine' ]
1 . TIDY tidy and carefully arranged:
neat handwriting
His clothes were always neat and clean.
Everything in the house was neat and tidy.
She arranged the books in a nice neat pile.
2 . LIKING THINGS TIDY someone who is neat likes to keep things tidy:
I’ve always been quite neat.
3 . GOOD American English spoken very good, pleasant, or enjoyable:
That’s a really neat idea.
I liked working for him – he was a neat guy.
4 . SMALL something that is neat is small and attractive:
her small, neat features
5 . CLEVER formal a neat way of doing or saying something is simple but clever and effective:
In the end we found a very neat solution to the problem.
a neat summary of the main issues
6 . DRINKS especially British English a neat alcoholic drink has no ice or water or any other liquid added SYN straight :
I can’t drink brandy neat.
drinking neat whisky
—neatly adverb :
He wrote his name neatly at the bottom of the page.
The problem was neatly summed up by one of the teachers.
—neatness noun [uncountable]