jumble
Americanverb (used with object)
-
jumbles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
jumbled,
past participle, past
-
jumbling
present participle
-
to mix in a confused mass; put or throw together without order.
You've jumbled up all the cards.
- Antonyms:
- separate
-
to confuse mentally; muddle.
verb (used without object)
-
jumbles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
jumbled,
past participle, past
-
jumbling
present participle
-
to be mixed together in a disorderly heap or mass.
-
to meet or come together confusedly.
noun
-
jumbles
plural
-
a mixed or disordered heap or mass.
a jumble of paper clips, rubber bands, and string.
-
a confused mixture; medley.
-
a state of confusion or disorder.
- Synonyms:
- chaos, muddle, mess, gallimaufry, farrago, hodgepodge
- Antonyms:
- order
-
Also jumbal a small, round, flat cake or cookie with a hole in the middle.
verb
-
to mingle (objects, papers, etc) in a state of disorder
-
(tr; usually passive) to remember in a confused form; muddle
noun
-
a disordered mass, state, etc
-
articles donated for a jumble sale
-
Also called: jumbal. a small thin cake, usually ring-shaped
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
jumblesimple
-
jumblessimple
-
have jumbledperfect
-
has jumbledperfect
-
am jumblingprogressive
-
are jumblingprogressive
-
is jumblingprogressive
-
have been jumblingperfect progressive
-
has been jumblingperfect progressive
Past
-
jumbledsimple
-
had jumbledperfect
-
was jumblingprogressive
-
were jumblingprogressive
-
had been jumblingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of jumble
1520–30; perhaps blend of joll to bump (now dial.) and tumble
Explanation
When you jumble something, you throw a bunch of items haphazardly together. For example, many people jumble many random things in a kitchen junk drawer. Use the verb jumble to describe what happens when you scramble or mix things up. Some kids, for example, jumble their Lego toys together in a big bin, while others like to sort the pieces by color or size. You can call the mix of items itself a jumble too. In the early 1500s, jumble meant "to move confusedly," and it was probably modeled on stumble. Later that century, it came to mean "mix or confuse."
Vocabulary lists containing jumble
Workshop 4, Part 2
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
"The Death of the Hired Man" by Robert Frost
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Locomotion
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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.
See Examples For:
“Our home was a crazy jumble of pieces from different places we’d lived in before, all commingling, but not very happily; I called it the Island of Misfit Furniture.”
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 23, 2026
It’s the shattering confusion of grief—for his son, and for his own life as he expected to lead it—yet he has made of the resulting jumble a consoling, searching work of art.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
They also made their way through the rubble, even through narrow tunnels formed in the jumble of broken walls, columns, and beams, searching for survivors.
From Barron's ● Jul. 5, 2026
"I just think fast fashion, we don't need it. We were all brought up in jumble sale clothes and it doesn't matter if they get dirty that way either."
From BBC ● Jun. 11, 2026
I stood gazing numbly at the jumble of food on my cot.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
The claim is that over time there is an increasing ratio of winners to jumbles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026
The heist piece is straightforward, but at times the fallout distractingly jumbles the puzzle.
From Salon ● Sep. 7, 2025
His answer is what he calls “Precarious Sculpture,” proliferating jumbles of lumpen objects made from common, impermanent stuff, as if refusing to play by the elitist rules of enduring art.
From New York Times ● Feb. 1, 2024
Elsewhere, household detritus was littered among ruined deck chairs and jumbles of mangled trees outside wrecked homes.
From Reuters ● Oct. 28, 2023
His sunsum jumbles my thoughts and makes the room stuffy with power.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
It’s as if the entire information ecosystem has been jumbled by an overactive imagination.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
If you happened to miss Sunday’s jumbled mess of a Golden Globes ceremony, the telecast can be best summed up by a scene from one of the night’s most nominated films.
From Salon ● Jan. 13, 2026
Target is a jumbled “knot of problems” that need to be sorted out, Saunders said.
From Barron's ● Nov. 14, 2025
The last few weeks of celebrity gossiping, scheming and the occasional fart may feel like one big crazy jumbled dream.
From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2025
The shower washes away some of my jumbled thoughts, and by the time I step out, I feel a little calmer about being here.
From "Warcross" by Marie Lu
It has been delaying and postponing matches, jumbling the schedule, prompting court changes and, all in all, creating stress and uncertainty for the world’s best tennis players.
From Seattle Times ● May 31, 2024
Fifty years ago, famed physicist Stephen Hawking wrote down an equation that predicts that a black hole has entropy, an attribute typically associated with the disordered jumbling of atoms and molecules in material.
From Science Magazine ● Mar. 28, 2024
And for the coach tasked with jumbling his lineups to accommodate Leonard the reserve – while also juggling a minutes restriction for backup guard Wall, as well -- it presented more headaches than benefits.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 18, 2022
It's the physical and mental fatigue of these jobs that sometimes scrambles my thoughts, jumbling my hatred for hoarding and anger at the misery it inflicts on people with hostility toward the people themselves.
From Salon ● May 30, 2020
He shook his head, like jumbling his thoughts would make them fall clearer, let him see that he was mistaken.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
