Tidy Meaning
/ˈtaɪ.di/Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjArranged neatly and in order.
adjNot messy; neat and controlled.
Sentence Examples
The cottage was clean and tidy.
I want you to have this room clean and tidy.
CEFR Practice Quiz
She kept her desk ____, with everything in its place.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Please make sure that you keep your room ____ and put all your toys away before you go out to play today.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English tidy, tydy, tidi (“timely, seasonal, opportune”), from tide (“time”) + -y. Cognate with Saterland Frisian tiedig (“timely, early”), Dutch tijdig (“timely”), German Low German tiedig (“timely”), German zeitig (“seasonal, timely”), Danish tidig (“timely”), Swedish tidig (“timely”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Two hundred thousand people! Miss Glory, that's a tidy lot. Not bad."
— c. 1921 (date written), Karel Čapek, translated by Paul Selver, R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots): A Fantastic Melodrama […], Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1923, →OCLC, Act 1:
"if weather be fair and tidy"
— 1573, Thomas Tusser, Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry:
"It was in the days when[…]every scrap of cotton or linen found its way into the ‘tidy’."
— 1863, William Blanchard Jerrold, Signals of distress, in refuges and homes of charity, London, page 207:
"NORRIS'S SINK TIDY. J NORRIS AND SONS, Sunningdale, near Ascot, the inventors of the "Little Friend" soap-tray, have extended the usefulness of this utensil by designing a sink-tidy for carrying three of the trays in the manner shown in the engraving. The tidy is formed by a strip of light wood[…]The price at which the tidy is offered virtually places it within the reach of everyone."
— 1895 July 6, The Ironmonger: Builders Merchant and Hardwareman, page 13:
"Inside there it was, the 1337 Revolving Desk Tidy.[…]The round "tidy" was divided into six segments "for all types of small sundries," and looked a bit like a grapefruit cut across the middle."
— 2020, James Ward, The Perfection of the Paperclip, page 11:
Explore More A1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
She kept her desk ____, with everything in its place.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Please make sure that you keep your room ____ and put all your toys away before you go out to play today.