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neaten

[neet-n] / ˈnit n /


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

The brief was to reduce the bulk at the sides and neaten the perimeter.

From The Guardian ● Apr. 24, 2020

The reader struggles, along with Vanessa, to make sense of what is happening, to interpolate, to see the truth, with so many false accounts, so many delusions, so many efforts to neaten or prettify.

From New York Times ● Mar. 6, 2020

Over 24 hours, I watched pundits and advocates try to neaten this case up, with conclusions that might wrangle the story back into something more orderly.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 21, 2018

There is only so much we can really put away even though I’ve started making the effort to remove anything truly personal when I neaten up ahead of company.

From Scientific American ● Jul. 30, 2017

I balance the tray in one hand and sweep up the spoon, taking a moment to neaten the crockery before approaching the door.

From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir

"Wait—" She adjusts my collar, neatens up my tie.

From "How It Went Down" by Kekla Magoon

We can’t do it without you,’” said Frank Morales, a gravedigger who had just power-washed the monument and neatened the collection of memorabilia that fans leave behind.

From New York Times ● Oct. 5, 2018

But now, said Mr. Rohr, sitting amid the neatened destruction, “It’s time to resume a normal routine.”

From New York Times ● Jul. 4, 2011

She bent forward and neatened a stack of papers on the desk.

From "The Rock and the River" by Kekla Magoon

She neatened the border of her sari where it rose diagonally across her chest.

From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri

Getting through it can take powerful magic, huge acts of transformation and small acts of neatening.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 19, 2020

“It feels like a small act of neatening that I really appreciate,” says Daniel Lavery, the author of Slate’s Dear Prudence advice column.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 19, 2020

Some like Atlas tend the bangles by pruning and neatening their edges.

From New York Times ● Mar. 28, 2019

A thematic approach can be a tricky, Procrustean way to go; you’re basically imposing an artificially neatening template on an unruly career.

From New York Times ● Oct. 16, 2014

So I folded that piece of paper really small, and, pretending I was neatening up my braid, I wound it into my hair.

From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez




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