How to Use clean-cut in a Sentence

clean-cut

adjective
  • The description calls for folks who are clean-cut and are office types.
    — Brayden Garcia, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 3 Nov. 2025
  • Yohan is young, clean-cut, neutral in manner and a touch severe.
    — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 4 May 2023
  • The men were Black and white, young and old, covered in tattoos and clean-cut.
    — Maggie Menderski, The Courier-Journal, 14 June 2023
  • What keeps us from reaching our richest selves, however, isn’t as clean-cut.
    — Ben Travers, IndieWire, 4 Apr. 2025
  • But the parallels between the clean-cut Vance and me only went so far.
    — Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 16 July 2024
  • However, other experts argue that the case is not that clean-cut.
    — Seema Mehta, Los Angeles Times, 12 Sep. 2023
  • Whitman’s howling yodel and clean-cut persona were a far cry from the sound Presley had been rehearsing.
    — Joe Sills, Forbes.com, 17 Jan. 2026
  • The garments are typically clean-cut and come in oversized silhouettes.
    — Robyn Mowatt, Essence, 18 Feb. 2025
  • Officer Nik Stefanovic is clean-cut, hair sharply parted and slicked, but his cheeks are rosy and his forehead shines with sweat.
    — Maggie Prosser, Dallas News, 14 Sep. 2023
  • Fans admired his clean-cut demeanor, charming smile and devotion to fans, charities and God.
    — Anthony De Leon, Los Angeles Times, 1 Feb. 2024
  • Six years after the first verdict, a clean-cut Rodney Alcala was convicted a second time.
    — Peter Van Sant, CBS News, 14 May 2024
  • Most of the time, breakups are supposed to be clean-cut endings—no second thoughts, no leftover feelings, and generally, no contact.
    — Jenna Ryu, SELF, 9 Feb. 2026
  • Advertisement Snoop Dogg isn’t exactly the most clean-cut guy either.
    — Chuck Schilken, Los Angeles Times, 7 May 2024
  • While native plants may not look as clean-cut as turf grass, growing native plants on residential lawns is better for local wildlife, Vargo said.
    — Alyssa N. Salcedo, jsonline.com, 4 Sep. 2025
  • Strait is noticeably clean-cut compared to Nelson and many who graced this stage tonight, but that speaks to Willie’s range and the wide swatch of humanity that loves him.
    — Mikael Wood, Los Angeles Times, 1 May 2023
  • The clip opens with a pretty-in-pink Joel, clean-cut but stuck in a rut with her husband, who is played by the singer’s real-life fiancé Ryan Gleason.
    — Rachel Desantis, People.com, 21 Aug. 2025
  • Keep it clean-cut Keeping the edges of your lawn and garden clean and tight is like getting a haircut before a job interview — simple but a major confidence booster.
    — Julian E.j. Sorapuru, BostonGlobe.com, 18 July 2023
  • The Song Sung Blue actor swapped his clean-cut ethos in favor of a grizzled beard and long silver hair for The Death of Robin Hood.
    — Lara Walsh, InStyle, 6 Jan. 2026
  • What became known as the Ivy look—full of versatile basics like T-shirts, khakis, and sports coats—was a uniform for a society that saw itself as classless, clean-cut, and optimistic.
    — Hua Hsu, The New Yorker, 20 Mar. 2023
  • Bournemouth were portrayed as a fairytale; a small club from a genteel resort town on England’s south coast who climbed through the divisions playing their football in a tippy-tappy way, led by their youthful, clean-cut manager.
    — George Caulkin, The Athletic, 13 Mar. 2025
  • Tonatiuh’s Molina can be frivolous one moment, maternal the next, appearing clean-cut, closeted and Cary Grant-like in the fantasy numbers.
    — Jenelle Riley, Variety, 2 Jan. 2026
  • On paper, Truman’s life looks as clean-cut as a 1950s advertisement, but unbeknownst to him, his entire existence has been the subject of the world’s longest TV show.
    — Randall Colburn, EW.com, 26 Jan. 2024
  • Scheffler, who has cultivated a clean-cut, focused image on the PGA Tour, expressed enthusiasm for the collaboration.
    — Julio Cesar Valdera Morales, MSNBC Newsweek, 4 Nov. 2025
  • With a loping gait and hunched shoulders that point to rock-bottom self-esteem, Poulter plays Cody Parsons, who turns up for his first court session in the program looking relatively clean-cut and respectable among a bunch of messier stoner types.
    — David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
  • After much chattering about the status of the Oscar winner’s seemingly clean-cut visage in the lead-up to the film’s premiere at the Venice Film Festival, once the camera (actually, four cameras) train themselves on Stone’s noggin during the film’s first act, there’s no doubt.
    — Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 5 Sep. 2025
  • Introduced as a clean-cut priest with a longtime crush on Dee, Matthew Mara (Sunny writer David Hornsby) has since seen his life repeatedly ruined by the gang, from being lured out of the clergy by Dee and humiliated in their exploitative dance contest to getting dragged into their criminal antics.
    — James Mercadante, EW.com, 4 Aug. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'clean-cut.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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