unkempt
Needing a brush
Unkempt describes something messy, disheveled, or neglected in appearance.
Hair is most often unkempt—uncombed, tangled, wild: He showed up with unkempt hair and wrinkled clothes.
The word extends to anything poorly maintained: an unkempt lawn, an unkempt beard, an unkempt room.
It suggests not just messiness but lack of care.
Disordered, especially hair
- messyLacking order or neatness
- scruffyMessily neglected in appearance
- rumpledCrinkled from neglect
- mussedMade untidy
bedraggled · tangled · straggly · windswept · matted · frowzy · sloppy · untidy
Worn to shreds
- threadbareWorn until transparent
- tatteredRipped and worn out
- wornDamaged by use
- scruffyMessily neglected in appearance
down-at-heel · frayed · patched · moth-eaten · dingy · grubby · slovenly · rumpled
Excessively covered in vegetation
- weedyOvergrown with unwanted plants
- untendedNot looked after
- abandonedLeft behind completely
- dilapidatedRuined through neglect
derelict · rundown · ramshackle · decrepit · crumbling · disrepair · forgotten · unattended
Uneven in surface
- coarseRough in texture
- unrefinedNot processed or polished
- crudeUnpolished, raw state
- uncultivatedNot tended or planted
raw · artless · unsophisticated · unfinished · ungainly · awkward · graceless · inelegant
tousled
Disordered, especially hair
mussed · bedraggled · tangled · straggly · windswept · matted · frowzy · sloppy · untidy · disordered
ragged
Worn to shreds
- threadbareWorn until transparent
- tatteredRipped and worn out
- wornDamaged by use
scruffy · down-at-heel · frayed · patched · moth-eaten · dingy · grubby · slovenly · rumpled · wrinkled
overgrown
Excessively covered in vegetation
dilapidated · derelict · rundown · ramshackle · decrepit · crumbling · disrepair · forgotten · unattended · unkept
rough
Uneven in surface
uncultivated · raw · artless · unsophisticated · unfinished · ungainly · awkward · graceless · inelegant · clumsy
- hairhair, haircut, hairstyle, hair loss, coily
- appearance idiomsall dolled up, dolled up, done up, dressed to kill, dressed to the nines
- grassgreen, brown, dead, dry, wet
- overgrownovergrown, tangled, weedy, wild, neglected
- Eyebrowsarched, bushy, thick, thin, natural
- unstylishnessunstylish, unfashionable, tastelessness, dowdiness, frumpiness
unkemptwell-maintained
Properly looked after
tidy · neat · orderly · well-ordered · manicured