Word Study
unkempt
CIDE DICTIONARY
unkempt, a. [Pref. un- not + kempt, p. p. of kemb.].
- Not combed; disheveled; as, an urchin with unkempt hair. [1913 Webster]
- Fig.; Not smoothed; unpolished; rough. [1913 Webster]"My rhymes be rugged and unkempt." [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
unkempt, adj.
1 untidy, of neglected appearance.
2 uncombed, dishevelled.
1 untidy, of neglected appearance.
2 uncombed, dishevelled.
Derivative
unkemptly adv. unkemptness n.
Etymology
UN-(1) + archaic kempt past part. of kemb comb f. OE cemban
THESAURUS
unkempt
Gothic, Neanderthal, animal, barbarian, barbaric, barbarous, beat-up, bedraggled, bestial, blowzy, broken, brutal, brutish, bumpy, careless, chintzy, choppy, coarse, coarse-grained, corrugated, cross-grained, dilapidated, disarranged, disheveled, disordered, drabbletailed, draggled, draggletailed, frowzy, frumpish, frumpy, grainy, granulated, grubby, homespun, horripilant, ill-bred, impolite, in rags, inequal, informal, irregular, jolty, linsey-woolsey, loose, lumpen, messy, mussy, negligent, noncivilized, outlandish, pimply, pitted, pocky, poky, potholed, primitive, ragged, raggedy, rank, ripply, rough, rough-and-ready, rough-cast, rough-grained, rough-hewn, ruffled, ruinous, rumpled, rutted, rutty, savage, scraggly, scruffy, seedy, shabby, shagged, shaggy, shoddy, slack, slatternly, slipshod, sloppy, slovenly, sluttish, sordid, squalid, tacky, tattered, textured, tousled, troglodytic, uncivil, uncivilized, uncombed, uncouth, uncultivated, uncultured, uneven, unfastidious, unlevel, unlicked, unneat, unpolished, unrefined, unsightly, unsmooth, untamed, untidy, ununiform, wild, wimpledROGET THESAURUS
unkempt
Uncleanness
N uncleanness, impurity, immundity, immundicity, impurity, defilement, contamination, defoedation, soilure, soiliness, abomination, leaven, taint, tainture, fetor, decay, putrescence, putrefaction, corruption, mold, must, mildew, dry rot, mucor, rubigo, slovenry, slovenliness, squalor, dowdy, drab, slut, malkin, slattern, sloven, slammerkin, slammock, slummock, scrub, draggle-tail, mudlark, dust-man, sweep, beast, dirt, filth, soil, slop, dust, cobweb, flue, smoke, soot, smudge, smut, grit, grime, raff, sossle, sozzle, sordes, dregs, grounds, lees, argol, sediment, settlement heeltap, dross, drossiness, mother, precipitate, scoriae, ashes, cinders, recrement, slag, scum, froth, hogwash, ditchwater, dishwater, bilgewater, rinsings, cheeseparings, sweepings, offscourings, outscourings, off scum, caput mortuum, residuum, sprue, fecula, clinker, draff, scurf, scurfiness, exuviae, morphea, fur, furfur, dandruff, tartar, riffraff, vermin, louse, flea, bug, chinch, mud, mire, quagmire, alluvium, silt, sludge, slime, slush, slosh, sposh, spawn, offal, gurry, lientery, garbage, carrion, excreta, slough, peccant humor, pus, matter, suppuration, lienteria, faeces, feces, excrement, ordure, dung, crap, shit, sewage, sewerage, muck, coprolite, guano, manure, compost, dunghill, colluvies, mixen, midden, bog, laystall, sink, privy, jakes, toilet, john, head, cess, cesspool, sump, sough, cloaca, latrines, drain, sewer, common sewer, Cloacina, dust hole, sty, pigsty, lair, den, Augean stable, sink of corruption, slum, rookery, dirty, filthy, grimy, unclean, impure, soiled, not to be handled with kid gloves, dusty, snuffy, smutty, sooty, smoky, thick, turbid, dreggy, slimy, mussy, slovenly, untidy, messy, uncleanly, unkempt, sluttish, dowdy, draggle-tailed, uncombed, unscoured, unswept, unwiped, unwashed, unstrained, unpurified, squalid, lutose, slammocky, slummocky, sozzly, nasty, coarse, foul, offensive, abominable, beastly, reeky, reechy, fetid, decayed, moldy, musty, mildewed, rusty, moth-eaten, mucid, rancid, weak, bad, gone bad, etercoral, lentiginous, touched, fusty, effete, reasty, rotten, corrupt, tainted, high, flyblown, maggoty, putrid, putrefactive, putrescent, putrefied, saprogenic, saprogenous, purulent, carious, peccant, fecal, feculent, stercoraceous, excrementitious, scurfy, scurvy, impetiginous, gory, bloody, rotting, rotten as a pear, rotten as cheese, crapulous, gross, fimetarious, fimicolous, they that touch pitch will be defiled.Vulgarity
N vulgarity, vulgarism, barbarism, Vandalism, Gothicism, mauvis gout, bad taste, gaucherie, awkwardness, want of tact, ill-breeding, courseness, indecorum, misbehavior, lowness, homeliness, low life, mauvais ton, rusticity, boorishness, brutality, rowdyism, blackguardism, ribaldry, slang, bad joke, mauvais plaisanterie, gaudiness, tawdriness, false ornament, finery, frippery, trickery, tinsel, gewgaw, clinquant, baroque, rococo, rough diamond, tomboy, hoyden, cub, unlicked cub, clown, Goth, Vandal, Boeotian, snob, cad, gent, parvenu, frump, dowdy, slattern, in bad taste vulgar, unrefined, coarse, indecorous, ribald, gross, unseemly, unbeseeming, unpresentable, contra bonos mores, ungraceful, dowdy, slovenly, ungenteel, shabby genteel, low, common, hoi polloi, uncourtly, uncivil, ill bred, ill mannered, underbred, ungentlemanly, ungentlemanlike, unladylike, unfeminine, wild, wild as an unbacked colt, untutored, unschooled (ignorant), unkempt, uncombed, untamed, unlicked, unpolished, uncouth, plebeian, incondite, heavy, rude, awkward, homely, homespun, home bred, provincial, countrified, rustic, boorish, clownish, savage, brutish, blackguard, rowdy, snobbish, barbarous, barbaric, Gothic, unclassical, doggerel, heathenish, tramontane, outlandish, uncultivated, Bohemian, obsolete, unfashionable, newfangled, odd, particular, affected, meretricious, extravagant, monstrous, horrid, shocking, gaudy, tawdry, overornamented, baroque, rococo, bedizened, tricked out, gingerbread, obtrusive.For further exploring for "unkempt" in Webster Dictionary Online