Pop Culture dictionary

KonMari

or Konmari or Kondo [kon-mahr-ee]

February 11, 2019

What does KonMari mean?

KonMari is the lifestyle brand of tidying consultant and Netflix star Marie Kondo. The KonMari Method is also the name of the organizing system she popularized.

Where does KonMari come from?

Tidy Casa

Marie Kondo, a Japanese woman obsessed with eliminating clutter, began her consulting business at the age of 19. KonMari is a play on her own name, with Kon– from her surname and -Mari from her first name.

She introduced her trademarked KonMari Method in her 2015 book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. It is system for paring down possessions (getting rid of things don’t “spark joy”), folding clothes, and organizing belongings.

Her bestselling book—followed by her hit 2019 Netflix show Tidying Up With Marie Kondo and the media attention it received—helped make KonMari into a verb for using the KonMari Method to declutter one’s spaces. Kondo is also sometimes used in the same manner.

Examples of KonMari

Konmari is going great because I have no emotional attachment to a lot of old art things so I'm just.. I CAN THROW THIS AWAY.

@belugachop, December 2018

For KonMari skeptics, this gentle animism is the kind of thing that leads people to nod along with Nicole Silverberg at GQ and say, “I mean … I love you, girl, but no.” But even Silverberg was won over eventually. When she KonMari’d her house, she held off on thanking her clothes as she discarded them, “mostly because it’s dumb,” she writes, but then she accidentally thanked one of her favorite shirts as she threw it out.

Constance Grady, Vox, January 2019

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Who uses KonMari?

KonMari can refer to the KonMari Method or carrying it out, e.g, I’m gonna KonMari my room this weekend and get rid of everything.

It’s a lot easier to KonMari when nothing in the world sparks joy anymore

— Gwen Mesco (@messily) June 28, 2018

The KonMari Method has been the subject of many popular articles in such outlets as The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and The Washington Post. It’s also been the subject of many personal blogs/social media posts.

I wish I could KonMari my brain.

(I mean this in all the profound ways, like “I’m not going to keep this thing you insisted on giving me,” but also like, “These song lyrics no longer spark joy let’s make room for math.”)

— Kate Hart (@Kate_Hart) February 10, 2019

Some people like to post before-and-after pictures of or commentary on their newly organized, decluttered spaces. Some include the hashtag #konmari.

Getting rid of superfluous clothing, shoes, and papers was easy, albeit tim-consuming. Getting rid of books was a flop, only found 6 I could say bye to😩 #konmari

— Rowena M. (@RowenaMonde) February 5, 2018

@Boatmamacita did a quick #KonMari on the Tupperware drawer. pic.twitter.com/S7Tad7Ee9Q

— Masago (@Masago__) February 3, 2019

Note that KonMari is not Marie Kondo’s name but her method and brand, an occasional source of confusion.

Inspired by the #KonMari method 😊 pic.twitter.com/XhnhdPaBeB

— Ace Carreon (@hellomayaaa) February 9, 2019

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Note

This is not meant to be a formal definition of KonMari like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of KonMari that will help our users expand their word mastery.