Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Not combed: unkempt hair.
- adj. Not properly maintained; disorderly or untidy: an unkempt garden. See Synonyms at sloppy.
- adj. Unpolished; rude.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Uncombed; disheveled: as, unkempt hair; hence, disorderly, Figuratively, rough; unpolished.
Wiktionary
- adj. dishevelled; untidy; dirty; not kept up
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Not combed; disheveled.
- adj. Fig.; Not smoothed; unpolished; rough.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. not properly maintained or cared for
- adj. not neatly combed
Etymologies
- un- + Middle English kempt ("combed"), compare German kämmen. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English unkemd : un-, not; see un-1 + kembed, past participle of kemben, to comb (from Old English cemban; see gembh- in Indo-European roots). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I had never used the word unkempt and from his bizarre behavior, one would think I had suggested his unruly mop looked like the Uni-bomber.”
“a dozen dozing till the June sun strikes their bows, these watercraft that seem to be randomly strewn in unkempt yards.”
“And, referring to my unkempt, bushy eyebrows, she said, “You look just like Brooke Shields!””
“He had removed his coat and starched collar preparatory to playing with the boy, and his disheveled appearance irresistibly recalled the unkempt individual who had first captured my heart.”
“So roughly 800 pounds of supposedly highly trained RCMP beef trembled in fear when confronted by the stapler-wielding, "unkempt" Robert Dziekanski.”
“He was by himself and one interesting thing was that his appearance had changed slightly, that he had lost some weight and his hair grew longer, kind of unkempt is the way we were described to it.”
“Anthony Paltz, 20, a UW-Madison pre-pharmacy student who was walking down State Street at the time, described the arrested man as "unkempt" and said he was wearing a kilt.”
“The victim describes the man as "unkempt" and police are asking for the public's help in identifying the attacker.”
“The facility appeared "unkempt" and some of the fish tanks were dirty, Brzezinski said.”
“Baldwin St. and Spadina Ave. at around 5: 15 a.m. when a man with an "unkempt" appearance approached her, police said.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘unkempt’.
-
GRE 2014
abate, abdicate, abase, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
-
The weird, the wonderful and the plai...
Loved for their ingenuity, an exact description, or simply for the pure joy of it.
acidulous, aprosdoketon, higgledy-piggledy, lexicographical, ninja, audacious, somnabulist, shivaree, amorphous, quidnunc, glib, melancholy and 353 more...
-
Bodily
wigwag, caprae, hylozoism, abiogenesis, whorl, entropy, anima, anthropoid, avatar, symbiont, symbiote, android and 34 more...
-
Desultory Digressions
Also known as EsotericWench's Word Holding Tank. These are words that have caught my fancy but I have yet to file in the appropriate list. If I don't capture them here, I won't capture them at all.
desultory, abjure, immethodical, mentalist, subvertising, schmaltzy, fartlek, interstitial, ear-rent, brouhaha, crufty, malefactor and 34 more...
-
unk knowns
bunk, chipmunk, junkyard, funk, junket, crunk, chunk, kerplunk, hunk, preshrunk, spunk, countersunk and 53 more...
-
My List
frugal, vicissitude, scatter, fiduciary, calf, mesmerize, eke, unkempt, callousness, heist, fumble, flinty and 31 more...
-
GCI
spinster, maiden, happy-go-lucky, homonym, ill-at-ease, saw red, out of sorts, hot under the collar, taken aback, pen-names, alias, shoelaces and 378 more...
-
Twitter favourites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
bumwank, calamity, recalcitrant, gayenese, jeeze, nonsense, flabbergasted, juxtapose, procrastinating, ossanity, biffing, loser and 1972 more... -
eggplantia5's Words
scintillate, marvel, cranberry, oscillate, triumph, bamboozle, grimace, magical, book, hexagon, cipher, compendium and 2727 more...
-
SAT Vocab
Redundant.
problematic, proclivity, prodigal, prodigious, prodigy, profane, profligate, profound, profusion, proliferation, prolific, prologue and 455 more...
-
poonis's Words
windswept, brouhaha, nocuous, sanguine, dissonance, diatribe, homunculus, rancor, stupor, resplendent, anecdote, splay and 125 more...
-
Un-word List
untrammelled, untoward, unenthusiastically, unenthusiastic, undaunted, uncanny, unceasing, unbridled, unacknowledged, unacquainted, unadorned, unaffected and 239 more...
-
eesome
Includes any intangible conceivable independently of Hom. Sap.
depthless, overspire, unsteady, thitherward, rile, munchable, covet, pastinaceous, mirtle, slonk, tink, inerrarable and 345 more...
-
Necessary?
"Words are very..."
The above was the original description for this list. Unfortunately, it doesn't convey much about the list contents.
I'm leaving you to draw your own conclusions abo...supererogation, fruitcake, unbeknownst, melifluous, bane, cavy, unnecessary, lyrical, question, undertow, weapon, arduous and 200 more...
-
nail01
sentimental, eloquent, inevitable, pretentious, verbose, aptly, stoically, grandiloquent, valedictory, assiduous, exorbitant, wreaked and 154 more...
-
ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for unkempt.

Comments
No comments yet...
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.