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neatly

/ˈnitli/
/ˈnitli/
IPA guide

Doing something neatly means doing it in a tidy or orderly way. When you make your bed neatly, you tuck in the sheets and fold back the comforter.

You can put your hair in a sloppy ponytail, or you can pull it back neatly. And while your closet might be full of messy piles of shirts and sweaters, the ones you see at a clothing store are folded neatly in piles. Neatly comes from neat, which originally meant "free from dirt," and later gained the meaning "tidy." The Latin root is nitidus, "gleaming."

Definitions of neatly
  1. adverb
    with neatness
    “she put the slippers under the bed neatly
Pronunciation
US
/ˈnitli/
UK
/ˈnitli/
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