NEATNESS

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does neatness mean? 

• NEATNESS (noun)
  The noun NEATNESS has 2 senses:

1. the state of being neat and smart and trim

2. the trait of being neat and orderly

  Familiarity information: NEATNESS used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• NEATNESS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The state of being neat and smart and trim

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

neatness; spruceness

Hypernyms ("neatness" is a kind of...):

tidiness (the habit of being tidy)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "neatness"):

trim; trimness (a state of arrangement or appearance)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The trait of being neat and orderly

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

neatness; tidiness

Hypernyms ("neatness" is a kind of...):

cleanliness (diligence in keeping clean)

Derivation:

neat (clean or organized)

tidy ((of hair) neat and tidy)

 Context examples 

Jo rather prided herself upon her shopping capabilities, and particularly wished to impress her escort with the neatness and dispatch with which she would accomplish the business.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I know the military neatness which characterises you.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Disability Assessment for Dementia (DAD) Choose appropriate clothing (with regard to the occasion, neatness, the weather and color combination)?

(DAD - Choose Appropriate Clothing, NCI Thesaurus)

Originally perhaps it was applied only to express neatness, propriety, delicacy, or refinement—people were nice in their dress, in their sentiments, or their choice.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Janet was a pretty blooming girl, of about nineteen or twenty, and a perfect picture of neatness.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

It was rather small, but well built and convenient; and everything was fitted up and arranged with a neatness and consistency of which Elizabeth gave Charlotte all the credit.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

I think I was a good, prompt subaltern, and I am very sure that Hands was an excellent pilot, for we went about and about and dodged in, shaving the banks, with a certainty and a neatness that were a pleasure to behold.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

My uncle drew on his driving-gloves and arranged his costume with punctilious neatness; but I observed that he glanced up and down the road with a haggard and yet expectant eye before he took his seat.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The neatness and propriety of her dress was all that he would allow himself to commend in her presence, but upon her leaving the room again soon afterwards, he spoke of her beauty with very decided praise.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Oh! could the originals of the portraits against the wainscot, could the gentlemen in brown velvet and the ladies in blue satin have seen what was going on, have been conscious of such an overthrow of all order and neatness!

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)