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.

---

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

---

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

On Tuesday, health officials there confirmed that one person had died of an infection amid a cluster of cases linked to the popular Brookshire Farms.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 12, 2026

The second, Rubin-GC1, is a star cluster on the opposite side of our galaxy, hidden within a region where thick clouds of cosmic dust make observations especially challenging.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 7, 2026

Tesla already has a supercomputing cluster in Texas, while SpaceX operates data centers in Mississippi and Tennessee.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 4, 2026

It was supposed to be the most-expensive new neighborhood in America, a cluster of five midcentury-inspired mansions perched on a hilltop overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Malibu, Calif.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026

Next to her were a cluster of egg-shaped ovals and smaller water monsters.

From "Healer of the Water Monster" by Brian Young

North of Singapore, Malaysia's Johor region has become "one of the largest emerging AI infrastructure clusters in the world", according to researcher James Chai of the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.

From Barron's ● Nov. 8, 2026

At the heart of the implant is a piece of graphite felt covered with tiny clusters of gold.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 2, 2026

The research team plans to investigate whether the differences between the left and right nerve clusters influence how the heart behaves during rest and physical activity.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 26, 2026

It is not unusual for storms to arrive one after another – in fact, they often develop in clusters, particularly during periods of unsettled weather across the Atlantic.

From BBC ● Oct. 24, 2026

Nali pointed to the stars above and called certain clusters by their Navajo names, while Nathan’s fire consumed the last bits of wood.

From "Healer of the Water Monster" by Brian Young

Social media accounts, particularly on TikTok, are awash with companies trying to attract people on benefits into their properties, mainly clustered around Birmingham's poorest areas.

From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2026

Joy’s yellow brick and white limestone home is located in the historic Strivers’ Row neighborhood, named for the culturally significant residents who have clustered there since the Harlem Renaissance in the early 1900s.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2026

Photos showed how the endangered moths clustered together so densely inside their caves, it was impossible to see the rock beneath.

From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026

Because of this dynamic, major gifts to colleges are often clustered around prominent schools.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 30, 2026

All kinds of girls zipped around like honeybees, some plopping into cozy armchairs, others perched on the spiraled staircases, and a few clustered around the worktables.

From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton

As a result, the enhanced clustering does not create a stronger gravitational imprint on the cosmic microwave background.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 2, 2026

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

Through the tiny peep-hole she watched the giants clustering around the poor BFG.

From "The BFG" by Roald Dahl

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---

Related Words

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

---