unkempt •\ən-ˈkem (p) t\• adjective 1. not neatly combed 2. not properly maintained or cared for The word unkempt has appeared in 182 New York Times articles in the past year, including on July 12 in the India Ink blog post "In Kerala, Rehabilitated Killer Nurtures Mentally Challenged" by Shevlin Sebastian: One morning in 1997, while Mr. Mathew was wandering about, he spotted a deranged man with unkempt hair, a thick beard and dirty clothes. "I decided to look after him, and took a house on rent," he recalled. I shaved his face, cut his hair, gave him a bath, and got him some clothes. As days passed, Mr. Mathew found other abandoned, mentally ill men and women. He brought them to his shelter. The Word of the Day and its definitions have been provided by Vocabulary.com and the Visual Thesaurus. Learn more about the word "unkempt" and see usage examples across a range of subjects on the Vocabulary dictionary. Click on the word below to map it and hear it pronounced: