Meanings
comparative more clean-cut · superlative most clean-cut
- Having a neat, smart appearance
a clean-cut young officer in a spotless uniform
3 more examples
I fell down / To my bended knees, / Saying, "I dig farmers, / Don't shoot me, please!" / He cocked his rifle / And began to shout, / "You're that travelin' salesman / That I have heard about." / I said, "No! No! No! / I'm a doctor and it's true, / I'm a clean-cut kid / And I been to college, too."
1964, Bob Dylan, “Motorpsycho Nitemare”, in Another Side of Bob DylanOf the fifty or so people present, most were clean-cut men in their twenties or thirties. Dalio sat down near the front of the room.
2011 July 18, John Cassidy, “Mastering the Machine”, in The New Yorker, →ISSNhere’s something a little too perfect about Dan Stevens. Even when he’s not literally playing a Disney prince, he looks like one: poised, chiseled, giving off a clean-cut aura no matter his state of grooming.
2021 September 16, A. A. Dowd, “Dan Stevens as a dashing robot lover? That computes”, in AV Club
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Apparently from the idea of being smoothly shaped and thus the opposite of “rough” or “coarse”.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian ясен, определен
- ясен (jasen)having a neat, smart appearance
- определен (opredelen)having a neat, smart appearance
Finnish siisti, siistinnäköinen
- siistihaving a neat, smart appearance
- siistinnäköinenhaving a neat, smart appearance
German adrett
- adretthaving a neat, smart appearance
Irish slachtmhar, dea-chóirithe
- slachtmharhaving a neat, smart appearance
- dea-chóirithehaving a neat, smart appearance
- pointeáiltehaving a neat, smart appearance
Spanish nítido
- nítidohaving a neat, smart appearance
Cite this entry
clean-cut. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/clean-cut
“clean-cut.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/clean-cut. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “clean-cut,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/clean-cut.
Source: clean-cut on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.