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
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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:
The result is a jumble of similar corporate names that try to sound important and patriotic.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
“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
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
A jumble of firn, new ice, and old ice underfoot.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
So by the time a public space opened up in 1977, the staff had a surfeit of wooden soapboxes containing jumbles of animal bones but little else.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 22, 2026
The heist piece is straightforward, but at times the fallout distractingly jumbles the puzzle.
From Salon ● Sep. 7, 2025
Elsewhere, household detritus was littered among ruined deck chairs and jumbles of mangled trees outside wrecked homes.
From Reuters ● Oct. 28, 2023
Look close, too, and you’ll see one of the key differences between Los Angeles and California: how quickly a traveler like Sackville-West skates rhetorically from L.A. to America to Hollywood, and jumbles up all three.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 29, 2023
Most of the chambers were empty, but some contained jumbles of pipes.
From "The Wild Robot Escapes" by Peter Brown
"It could definitely catch fire again if the pattern isn't changed. As long as organic waste remains piled up in a jumbled mess, methane gas will continue to be produced underground."
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
Initially intriguing, the jumbled chronology eventually proves to be largely decorative until a disappointing late-reel twist explains why the labored device was deployed in the first place.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 26, 2026
Years of mismanagement and ill-fated transfers have left Spurs with a jumbled squad and a hair trigger for firing coaches.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 14, 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
She sat on a crate in the middle of the jumbled mess and laughed.
From "Bless Me, Ultima" by Rudolfo Anaya
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
He could sound halting, sometimes jumbling words, using the wrong one, and occasionally sounding off-key.
From New York Times ● Oct. 25, 2022
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
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