clatter
Americanverb (used without object)
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to make a loud, rattling sound, as that produced by hard objects striking rapidly one against the other.
The shutters clattered in the wind.
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to move rapidly with such a sound.
The iron-wheeled cart clattered down the street.
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to talk fast and noisily; chatter.
They clattered on and on about their children.
verb (used with object)
noun
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a rattling noise or series of rattling noises.
The stagecoach made a terrible clatter going over the wooden bridge.
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noisy disturbance; din; racket.
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noisy talk; din of voices.
They had to shout over the clatter at the cocktail party.
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idle talk; gossip.
verb
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to make or cause to make a rattling noise, esp as a result of movement
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(intr) to chatter
noun
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a rattling sound or noise
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a noisy commotion, such as one caused by loud chatter
Other Word Forms
- clatterer noun
- clatteringly adverb
- clattery adjective
Etymology
Origin of clatter
before 1050; Middle English clateren, Old English clatr- (in clatrunge ); cognate with Dutch klateren to rattle; -er 6
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Aromatics are where things begin: ginger, garlic, onions and their cousins; the soft clatter of mirepoix or soffritto; a bloom of spices warming in fat.
From Salon • Feb. 8, 2026
Dishes clatter, steam bursts from large cooking pots and music is seeping through the bustling chatter of Russian pensioners, hunched over bowls of free meals in a Saint Petersburg soup kitchen.
From Barron's • Feb. 6, 2026
Anderson’s crew entombed their cameras in a custom-built insulated box to prevent their clatter from bleeding into the dialogue and sound of the film.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 12, 2025
Diana Baig's dismissal of Tammy Beaumont jagged back off the seam, the opener playing an extravagent leave only to see the ball clatter into her off stump.
From BBC • Oct. 15, 2025
The clatter of the falling cans sends the rat squealing and sets Mav barking from inside the house.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
