neaten
/ˈniːtən/verb
neaten is a verb meaning “To make (someone or something) neat; to arrange (people or things) in an orderly, tidy way; to tidy” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled N-E-A-T-E-N, and it appears about once in every 39 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data).
What does neaten mean?
verb
- 1
To make (someone or something) neat; to arrange (people or things) in an orderly, tidy way; to tidy.
She made a frantic attempt to neaten her hair.
- 2
To engage in activity that arranges someone or something in an orderly, tidy way.
Don't mind me if I neaten while you talk.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce neaten?
- /ˈniːtən/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-neaten.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of neaten
- neatens present, singular, he/she/it
- neatening participle, present
- neatened participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is neaten?
Neaten appears about once in every 39 million words in written English, the 191,932nd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Neaten in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense to make tidy:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | ranger |
| German | aufräumen, zusammenräumen, säubern, ordnen |
| Portuguese | arrumar, assear |
| Spanish | arreglar, adecentar, prolijar, aseado |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does neaten come from?
From neat + -en.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).