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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

They fundamentally try to neaten things up and make it look more rational than it is.

From Salon Oct. 6, 2012

As a child she always had a knack for organization; she would take it upon herself to neaten closets and drawers, not only her own but her parents’ as well.

From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri

"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

“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

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

From Washington Post Feb. 19, 2020

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

But at the beginning the Callaway Connection manifested itself mainly in a comprehensive neatening up of what they could do already.

From The Guardian Feb. 14, 2013

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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