From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishldoce_309_etidyti‧dy1 /ˈtaɪdi/ ●●● S3 adjective (comparative tidier, superlative tidiest) especially British English 1 TIDYa room, house, desk etc that is tidy is neatly arranged with everything in the right place SYN neat OPP untidy, messy a tidy desk I try to keep the garden tidy. Ellen’s room is always neat and tidy.2 TIDYsomeone who is tidy keeps their house, clothes etc neat and clean Chris is a naturally tidy person.3 → a tidy sum/profit4 → a tidy mind —tidily adverb —tidiness noun [uncountable]THESAURUStidy British English a place, room etc that is tidy looks nice because everything has been arranged and put in the right placea tidy deskI want to leave the place clean and tidy before we go.neat use this about things that are carefully arranged in a way that is nice to look ata neat pile of towelsThe room was neat and tidy.immaculate /ɪˈmækjələt/ a place or thing that is immaculate is perfectly clean and neat – use this to emphasize how clean something looksOur house was always immaculate.well-kept a well-kept building or garden is very well cared for and looks neat and cleana large house on well-kept groundsorderly arranged or organized in a sensible or neat wayThe room was orderly and uncluttered.
Examples from the Corpus
tidy• Andrew's apartment is always so tidy.• The large mahogany writing desk was immaculately tidy.• I think the least you could do is keep your own bedroom tidy.• My job was to mow the grass and keep the garden looking generally tidy.• We spent the morning getting the whole house clean and tidy.• She was neat and tidy and always helpful.• Everything tidy and shipshape and orderly.• I want to leave the place nice and tidy before we go.• Verisign has already built a tidy business selling two types of digital signatures: personal and site certificates.• Everything was tidy, clean and obviously proudly cared for.• She was a jewel, tidy, competent, and thoughtful, but she should not be spoiled with familiarity.• With Janzen shooting a 70, that means Costner and his 16 handicap helped the team a tidy five shots.• He bumbled around for a bit, trying to coil up the string and push the wood into tidy heaps.neat and tidy• Automatic end needle selection is another bonus which insures that knitted edges are always neat and tidy.• Leaving the site neat and tidy.• These people are perfectionists, ambitious, hard-working and extremely neat and tidy.• She was neat and tidy and always helpful.• Their desks were equally neat and tidy, and singularly bare of paperwork.• Jacob's strictures served as a reminder that neat and tidy land use arrangements may have been over-emphasized.• But he's neat and tidy there's no denying it.tidytidy2 ●●○ (also tidy up) verb (tidied, tidying, tidies) [intransitive, transitive] TIDYto make a place look tidy Tidy your room! It’s time we tidied up the office.tidy up after somebody I’m tired of tidying up after you boys (=tidying somewhere that someone else has made untidy). → tidy something ↔ away→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
tidy• They chatted to her over tea and biscuits, tidied her house and did the odd spot of shopping.• I completed tidying the loft, sneezing a few times as the golden space filled with motes of shining dust.• William looked around at the stacks of cartons and bundles and felt that he had been wasting his time tidying the stock.• He washed up and tidied up, and put the baize cover back on the table.• She self-consciously fiddled with her hair, tidied up her clothes.• Two afternoons later, just as she was tidying up, Jonas came into the study.• I was tidying up my desk when the phone rang.• Thou shalt tidy up thine own mess, wherever it comes from.tidytidy3 noun (plural tidies) [countable] British English → desk/car/sink tidyOrigin tidy1 (1700-1800) tidy “at an appropriate time” ((13-18 centuries)), from tide 