Word.ws English Dictionary

unkept

unkept adjective: not kept (especially of promises). Also the misspelling of unkempt.

Adjective

unkept (not comparable)

  1. Not kept (especially of promises).
  2. Not well-cared for, not well-kept, not tidy or well-maintained

Also used as

unkept is also the misspelling of unkempt.

Origin of unkept

From un- + kept.

Reanalysis of obsolete kempt to kept, keep in the sense “maintain (a coiffure)”. Compare uncombed.

Questions about unkept

What does unkept mean?
Unkept means not kept (especially of promises).
What part of speech is unkept?
Unkept is an adjective.

Words near unkept in the dictionary

  1. unkennels
  2. unkenning
  3. unkenreflex
  4. unkens
  5. unkent
  6. unkept
  7. unkeratinized
  8. unkerchiefed
  9. unkerned
  10. unket
  11. unketh

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: unkept (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “unkept.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/unkept. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.