clean-cut
adjEtymology Apparently from the idea of being smoothly shaped and thus the opposite of “rough” or “coarse”.
1
Having a neat, smart appearance
- a clean-cut young officer in a spotless uniform
- I fell down / To my bended knees, / Saying, "I dig farmers, / Don't shoot me, please!" / He cocked his rifle / And began to shout, / "You're that travelin' salesman / That I have heard about." / I said, "No! No! No! / I'm a doctor and it's true, / I'm a clean-cut kid / And I been to college, too."1964, Bob Dylan, “Motorpsycho Nitemare”, in Another Side of Bob Dylan:
2 more examples
- Of the fifty or so people present, most were clean-cut men in their twenties or thirties. Dalio sat down near the front of the room.2011 July 18, John Cassidy, “Mastering the Machine”, in The New Yorker, →ISSN:
- here’s something a little too perfect about Dan Stevens. Even when he’s not literally playing a Disney prince, he looks like one: poised, chiseled, giving off a clean-cut aura no matter his state of grooming.2021 September 16, A. A. Dowd, “Dan Stevens as a dashing robot lover? That computes”, in AV Club: