cluster

American  

[kluhs-ter] / ˈklʌs tər /

noun

• clusters
  plural

1. a number of things of the same kind, growing or held together; a bunch.

   a cluster of grapes.

2. a group of things or persons close together.

   There was a cluster of tourists at the gate.

3. U.S. Army. a small metal design placed on a ribbon representing an awarded medal to indicate that the same medal has been awarded again.

   oak-leaf cluster.

4. Phonetics. a succession of two or more contiguous consonants in an utterance, as the str- cluster of strap.

5. Astronomy. a group of neighboring stars, held together by mutual gravitation, that have essentially the same age and composition and thus supposedly a common origin.

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verb (used with object)

• clusters,
  present (3rd person singular)
• clustered,
  past participle,  past
• clustering
  present participle

1. to gather into a cluster or clusters.

2. to furnish or cover with clusters.

verb (used without object)

• clusters,
  present (3rd person singular)
• clustered,
  past participle,  past
• clustering
  present participle

1. to form a cluster or clusters.

   The people clustered around to watch.

   Synonyms:

   bunch, crowd, throng, gather, group

cluster British  

/ ˈklʌstə /

noun

1. a number of things growing, fastened, or occurring close together

2. a number of persons or things grouped together

3. military a metal insignia worn on a medal ribbon to indicate a second award or a higher class of a decoration or order

4. military

   1. a group of bombs dropped in one stick, esp fragmentation and incendiary bombs

   2. the basic unit of mines used in laying a minefield

5. astronomy an aggregation of stars or galaxies moving together through space

6. a group of two or more consecutive vowels or consonants

7. statistics a naturally occurring subgroup of a population used in stratified sampling

8. chem

   1. a chemical compound or molecule containing groups of metal atoms joined by metal-to-metal bonds

   2. the group of linked metal atoms present

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verb

1. to gather or be gathered in clusters

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• subcluster
  noun
• clustered
  adjective
• clustery
  adjective
• intercluster
  adjective
• unclustered
  adjective
• unclustering
  adjective
• clusteringly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• clusters
  plural

Participles

• clustering
  present
• clustered
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• cluster
  simple
• clusters
  simple
• have clustered
  perfect
• has clustered
  perfect
• am clustering
  progressive
• are clustering
  progressive
• is clustering
  progressive
• have been clustering
  perfect progressive
• has been clustering
  perfect progressive

Past

• clustered
  simple
• had clustered
  perfect
• was clustering
  progressive
• were clustering
  progressive
• had been clustering
  perfect progressive

Future

• will cluster
  simple
• will have clustered
  perfect
• will be clustering
  progressive
• will have been clustering
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of cluster

before 900; Middle English; Old English cluster, clyster bunch; cognate with Low German kluster

Explanation

A cluster is a small group of people or things. When you and your friends huddle awkwardly around the snack table at a party, whispering and trying to muster enough nerve to hit the dance floor, you’ve formed a cluster. Cluster comes to us from the Old English word clyster, meaning bunch. Nowadays, you can use cluster as either a noun or a verb. When we were kids, we would stand in a cluster (noun) on the street corner, eagerly awaiting the appearance of the Good Humor truck every afternoon. Then we would cluster (verb) eagerly around the driver, demanding ice cream. Virtually anything can form a cluster — flowers, cells, stars, human beings, and even events.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cluster clusters clustered clustering

There's a ripple of laughter during We Can't Be Friends, meanwhile, when a tiny cluster of the audience screams over the "silence challenge", external that's become a meme during the tour's American leg.

From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026

The most recent Hindenburg Omen cluster of 11 or more Omens was completed on June 29.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026

At first glance, the site is an unremarkable cluster of tall trees wrapped in thick greenery.

From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026

He then turned his sights to the city’s riverfront, with a plan to take down part of its most iconic feature, a cluster of buildings that included the General Motors world headquarters.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

“If he does, it might be for the best,” Marjory told her small cluster of fans.

From "Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics" by Chris Grabenstein

Strong AI-related demand helped the electronics and precision engineering clusters of the manufacturing sector, as well as the machinery, equipment and supplies segment of the wholesale trade sector, it said.

From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026

Curiosity has seen small clusters of similar geometric shapes before, but never anything approaching the scale of the field now visible in Valle Grande.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 1, 2026

During her study, she used how often someone might engage with a certain genre to match it up with one of the following four clusters:

From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026

The company is attempting to bundle hundreds of thousands of AI chips into massive clusters that function as a single computer to mimic cutting-edge silicon.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

Our plates are filled with golden-brown waffles, sunny-side up eggs, and clusters of grapes.

From "I Can Make This Promise" by Christine Day

The San Fernando Valley is the epicenter of California’s artificial-stone-cutting industry, where dozens of shops are clustered.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026

A child lay beneath a blue sheet, hooked to a respirator, with a team of doctors and nurses clustered around the bed.

From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026

From a distance, Malaysia's Forest City looks 3D-printed: a bristle of identical white blocks clustered on an otherwise unremarkable coastline.

From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026

The plans are clustered in the tech sector, and AI investment is “still the story.”

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026

They were surprised to see a knot of people, many in dark blue police windbreakers, clustered outside their apartment door.

From "The Smartest Kid in the Universe" by Chris Grabenstein

This resulted in most of the 12,000-strong population clustering around the coastal edges with usable space at a premium on an island that measures only 21 square kilometres.

From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026

It also underwent a store refresh program, changing products and is clustering locations to boost profit and customer traffic.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026

In dwarf galaxies, the process creates dark matter cores with relatively low central densities, matching recent observations of galaxy clustering.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 14, 2026

The clustering of short positions presents “a dormant risk of a bullish short-covering” although “it may require a bullish catalyst to ignite upside potential,” he adds.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 27, 2026

The city is lit up with icons, the symbols clustering in the areas where the most people have gathered.

From "Warcross" by Marie Lu

Related Words

• array
• assemblage
• band
• batch
• bunch
• bundle
• chunk
• clump
• collection
• knot