Neat vs. Sloppy — What's the Difference?
Difference Between Neat and Sloppy
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Definitions
Neat
Arranged in a tidy way; in good order
The books had been stacked up in neat piles
Sloppy
Careless and unsystematic; excessively casual
We gave away a goal through sloppy defending
Neat
Done with or demonstrating skill or efficiency
A neat bit of deduction
Sloppy
(of a garment) casual and loose-fitting
She wore a sloppy sweater and jeans
Neat
(of liquid, especially spirits) not diluted or mixed with anything else
He drank neat Scotch
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Sloppy
(of semi-fluid matter) containing too much liquid; watery
Do not make the concrete too sloppy
Neat
Very good; excellent
It was really neat seeing the city
Sloppy
(of literature or behaviour) weakly or foolishly sentimental
Lovers of sloppy romance
Neat
A bovine animal.
Sloppy
Marked by or given to a lack of neatness or order; untidy
A sloppy room.
A sloppy roommate.
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Neat
Orderly and clean; tidy
A neat office.
A neat desk.
Sloppy
Showing or in the habit of using little care or attention
Sloppy use of language.
A sloppy researcher.
Neat
Habitually tidy or well-organized
Was lucky to have a neat roommate.
Sloppy
(Informal) Oversentimental; gushy
A sloppy love letter.
Neat
Marked by ingenuity and skill; adroit
A neat turn of phrase.
Sloppy
Of, resembling, or covered with slop; muddy or slushy
Sloppy ground.
Neat
Not diluted or mixed with other substances
Neat whiskey.
Sloppy
Watery and unappetizing
A sloppy stew.
Neat
Left after all deductions; net
Neat profit.
Sloppy
Spotted or splashed with liquid.
Neat
(Slang) Wonderful; terrific
That was a neat party.
Sloppy
Very wet; covered in or composed of slop.
The dog tracked sloppy mud through the kitchen!
Neat
A cow or other domestic bovine animal.
Sloppy
Messy; not neat, elegant, or careful.
The carpenter did a sloppy job of building the staircase.
Neat
Clean, tidy; free from dirt or impurities.
My room is neat because I tidied it this morning.
She has very neat hair.
Sloppy
Imprecise or loose.
A sloppy measurement; a sloppy fit
Neat
Free from contaminants; unadulterated, undiluted. Particularly of liquor and cocktails; see usage below.
I like my whisky neat.
Sloppy
Wet, so as to spatter easily; wet, as with something slopped over; muddy; plashy; as, a sloppy place, walk, road.
Neat
(chemistry) Conditions with a liquid reagent or gas performed with no standard solvent or cosolvent.
The Arbuzov reaction is performed by adding the bromide to the phosphite, neat.
The molecular beam was neat acetylene.
Sloppy
Lacking neatness or order;
A sloppy room
Sloppy habits
Neat
(archaic) With all deductions or allowances made; net.
Sloppy
Marked by great carelessness;
A most haphazard system of record keeping
Slapdash work
Slipshod spelling
Sloppy workmanship
Neat
Having a simple elegance or style; clean, trim, tidy, tasteful.
The front room was neat and carefully arranged for the guests.
Neat
Well-executed or delivered; clever, skillful, precise.
Having the two protagonists meet in the last act was a particularly neat touch.
Neat
Facile; missing complexity or details in the favor of convenience or simplicity.
Courts should not reduce this case to a neat set of legal rules.
Neat
Good, excellent, desirable.
Hey, neat convertible, man.
Neat
Used to signify a job well done.
Neat
Used to signify approval.
Neat
(informal) An artificial intelligence researcher who believes that solutions should be elegant, clear and provably correct. Compare scruffy.
Neat
(archaic) A bull or cow.
Neat
(archaic) Cattle collectively.
Neat
Cattle of the genus Bos, as distinguished from horses, sheep, and goats; an animal of the genus Bos; as, a neat's tongue; a neat's foot.
Wherein the herds[men] were keeping of their neat.
The steer, the heifer, and the calfAre all called neat.
A neat and a sheep of his own.
Neat
Of or pertaining to the genus Bos, or to cattle of that genus; as, neat cattle.
Neat
Free from that which soils, defiles, or disorders; clean; cleanly; tidy.
If you were to see her, you would wonder what poor body it was that was so surprisingly neat and clean.
Neat
Free from what is unbecoming, inappropriate, or tawdry; simple and becoming; pleasing with simplicity; tasteful; chaste; as, a neat style; a neat dress.
Neat
Free from admixture or adulteration; good of its kind; as, neat brandy; to drink one's vodka neat.
Neat
Excellent in character, skill, or performance, etc.; nice; finished; adroit; as, a neat design; a neat thief.
Neat
Clean or orderly;
Her neat dress
A neat room
Neat
Showing care in execution;
Neat homework
Neat handwriting
Neat
Free from what is tawdry or unbecoming;
A neat style
A neat set of rules
She hated to have her neat plans upset
Neat
Free from clumsiness; precisely or deftly executed;
He landed a clean left on his opponent's cheek
A clean throw
The neat exactness of the surgeon's knife
Neat
Very good;
He did a bully job
A neat sports car
Had a great time at the party
You look simply smashing
Neat
Without water;
Took his whiskey neat
