untidy

He came to the U.S. in 1993 as a graduate student and developed a keen appreciation for the American system’s ability to steer away from radicalism and remain in the untidy middle.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026

Yet their pictures take us to places we wouldn’t encounter otherwise and remind us that in addition to being strange, life is frequently untidy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026

In the living room, a pilot rearranges an untidy study desk.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 31, 2026

There have been complaints about the increasingly untidy nature of the park with rubbish and sanitation concerns raised.

From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2025

Lexie perched at the counter, inelegant in sweatpants and a tee, hair clipped in an untidy bun, picking sesame seeds off a bagel.

From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng

Aunt Marge loved criticizing him, so the untidier he looked, the happier she would be.

From "Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban" by J.K. Rowling

Riddle’s reply came quickly, his writing becoming untidier, as though he was hurrying to tell all he knew.

From "Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets" by J. K. Rowling

The room had not much in it, or it would have been untidier; it looked neglected and gloomy, and some dirty plates, suggestive of long-past dinners, were piled on the table.

From The Solitary Summer by Elizabeth

The handwriting suddenly grew untidier than ever; two great blots defaced the paper; the style became feebly hysterical.

From Poor Miss Finch by Wilkie Collins

As for their studio—there was no untidier jumble of old armor and brasses and Spanish leather in Paris; and Mme.

From Frances Waldeaux by Rebecca Harding Davis

He was the untidiest person in the world.

From The Guardian ● May 29, 2013

Laval devotes much time to his toilet, but he is one of the untidiest political figures on earth.

From Time Magazine Archive

He shut himself off from the world, and stopped his ears; lived in the untidiest of rooms, and would not have his garden tended, "preferring to see all things wild and savage about him."

From Great Pictures, As Seen and Described by Famous Writers by Esther Singleton

Her room was the untidiest that Nellie had ever seen, and the tea a picnic.

From The Card, a Story of Adventure in the Five Towns by Arnold Bennett

Eric followed his guide up four short flights of marble stairs and was shewn into the untidiest room that he had ever seen, filled in equal measure with the priceless and the worthless.

From The Education of Eric Lane by Stephen McKenna

Never mind all the stuff she has persuaded the untidied masses to extract from their overstuffed homes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 31, 2019

And at night the intrepid traveler is not surprised to return and find the room still unmade, the bureau still undusted and the damp towel still on the untidied washstand.

From Time Magazine Archive

O my chamber's untidied, unmade my bed    Though the day has begun to wear!

From Wessex Poems and Other Verses by Thomas Hardy

The remains of a fire untidied the grate; the flimsiest curtains were hung before the windows.

From Sparrows: the story of an unprotected girl by Horace W. C. (Horace Wykeham Can) Newte

The one thing I never could stand is a great lout of a man smoking all over my house and going to sleep in his chair after dinner, and untidying everything.

From Getting Married by Bernard Shaw

You can't tidy anything without untidying yourself; just look at my trousers.

From Manalive by G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton

He hoped that her hands were not untidying him beyond quick repair: he very much disliked having his hair ruffled.

From Burning Sands by Arthur Weigal