neaten
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:
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
I would neaten myself up and tell them I could work whatever hours they wanted.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 27, 2013
They fundamentally try to neaten things up and make it look more rational than it is.
From Salon ● Oct. 6, 2012
Many of these trees, typically 100 years old or more according to Australia’s DEC, have been lost to logging or development, or to people trying to neaten up their properties.
From Scientific American ● Mar. 13, 2012
I clean up my bed on the couch, and Dad and Steph neaten my bedroom, where they’re staying.
From "Clairboyance" by Kristiana Kahakauwila
"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 neatened the border of her sari where it rose diagonally across her chest.
From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri
She bent forward and neatened a stack of papers on the desk.
From "The Rock and the River" by Kekla Magoon
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
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
