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# tidy

«tidy» in Mova's school dictionary: **neat and in order, with things in their right places** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

adjective (tidy, tidier, tidiest); verb (tidy, tidies, tidied, tidying; tidy up)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Tidy means neat and in order, with things in their right places. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tidy/#m1)

2) To tidy (or tidy up) means to make a place neat by putting things away. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tidy/#m2)

3) A tidy amount of money means quite a lot (informal). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tidy/#m3)

4) To tidy up can also mean to put thoughts or feelings into good order. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tidy/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

In everyday life and at school, children tidy their bedrooms, desks and classrooms; «Tidy up time!» means put everything away. A tidy room is safer: toys and cables on the floor can make people trip. Tidy handwriting and tidy working out in maths make answers easy to read and check. In stories a tidy character is neat and careful.

### examples

- Please tidy your room before dinner. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tidy/#x1)
- Her desk is always tidy. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tidy/#x2)
- Let's tidy up the toys. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tidy/#x3)
- Keep your working out tidy so you can check it. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tidy/#x4)
- His handwriting is tidier than mine. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tidy/#x5)
- A tidy floor means nobody trips over. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tidy/#x6)
- She tidied the books onto the shelf. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tidy/#x7)
- They made a tidy profit selling lemonade. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tidy/#x8)
- Mrs. Darling first heard of Peter when she was tidying up her children’s minds. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tidy/#x9)

### note

Verb forms: tidies, tidied (y → ie), tidying (keep y). Opposites: «untidy», «messy». «Tidy up» is very common. «Tidy» is used more in British English; Americans also say «clean up» or «neat».

### In the corpora

- [Some families pay children for extra jobs, like washing the car, but tidying your own room is just part of living together.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/5-where-money-comes-from/9/)
- [A tidy house helps buyers imagine living there and can sell faster or for more money.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/10-moving-house-and-renting-a-home/10/)
- [Many families visit graves to remember someone, tidy the spot and leave flowers; talking to the person there is normal.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/25-funerals-and-remembering/15/)
- [These words are mostly spin and hiding, not kindness: they make terrible things sound tidy, careful or even normal.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/26-war-and-the-military/2/)
- [Having a place for each thing and tidying a little every day makes things quick to find and stops people tripping.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/111-chores-and-broken-things/5/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «tidy» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tidy/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.