clamber
Americanverb (used with or without object)
-
clambers,
present (3rd person singular)
-
clambered,
past participle, past
-
clambering
present participle
noun
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
clambersimple
-
clamberssimple
-
have clamberedperfect
-
has clamberedperfect
-
am clamberingprogressive
-
are clamberingprogressive
-
is clamberingprogressive
-
have been clamberingperfect progressive
-
has been clamberingperfect progressive
Past
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clamberedsimple
-
had clamberedperfect
-
was clamberingprogressive
-
were clamberingprogressive
-
had been clamberingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of clamber
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English clambren, equivalent to clamb- (akin to climb ) + -r- -er 6 + -en infinitive suffix
Explanation
To clamber is to climb awkwardly. Hamlet's Ophelia was said to have been clambering on a weak branch of a willow when she met her "muddy death." It's never a good idea to clamber, let alone on weak willow branches. We associate the word clamber far more often with toddlers (than Shakespearean tragedy). Toddlers are known for naturally clumsy, ill-coordinated movements we deem cute not foolish. Suitably enough, the word comes from the delightful and long obsolete Middle English word clamb, meaning the past tense of climb, a word that has all the happy logic of a toddler's imagination.
Vocabulary lists containing clamber
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
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The Witch of Blackbird Pond
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Where the Red Fern Grows
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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:
As long as fans still hunger to see their favorite artists live, it seems likely that singers will keep trying to clamber back onto stage.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
Driver Andriy, 53, is one of the first Ukrainian faces many of the freed soldiers see as they clamber onto his bus.
From Barron's ● Mar. 18, 2026
Those lucky enough to snap out of psychosis and regain touch with the tangible world are now building support groups online to help others clamber out.
From Slate ● Feb. 2, 2026
They also clamber on rooftops and through landscaping, causing damage and leaving waste.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2025
At full speed I seize it again, and with a swing toss it over the wall and clamber up.
From "All Quiet on the Western Front: A Novel" by Erich Maria Remarque
But the rescuer reaches Alma first, and she clambers out - unaided - from between jagged slabs of concrete and twisted metal bars.
From BBC ● Mar. 22, 2024
She dashes up the aisle or clambers over seats to meet people where they’re at.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 26, 2023
Staticky, menacing voices croak from old radios and Michael Burgess’s camera beckons us into underground tunnels and clambers up walls on the heels of the villain and his victims.
From New York Times ● Sep. 10, 2021
In a separate clip, also filmed from the crush of the crowd of several hundred people, a woman clambers over the wall.
From Reuters ● Aug. 19, 2021
Woo clambers atop a tent and hides from his pursuers.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
Abandoning the vehicle, the group clambered up the rocky mountainside, grabbing onto boulders and grass to haul themselves up.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
Crews clambered in to find Sanjaya Shah and Kabir Maharjan - both had injuries on their hands and legs, "possibly" from crawling through the tunnel.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
When the smoke briefly cleared, she says she passed the injured children down to people below and clambered past fire and rubble towards the school gate, where she saw a crowd of parents.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
Several members equipped with climbing harnesses clambered up a small tree on the school’s front lawn and dangled from its limbs on climbing ropes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 19, 2026
Their wounds healed as Frey and Skirnir watched, and they clambered onto their horses.
From "Norse Mythology" by Neil Gaiman
I soon found myself clambering on hands and knees in my swim shorts into a dirt-floored dome made from sticks and blankets, and sitting cross-legged as red-hot volcanic stones were laid in a central pit.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
Obviously, clambering up and down the dangerously steep pass, ferrying goods on horseback or by mule or — for a few wacky, experimental months in the mid-1850s, Army camels — wasn’t workable.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026
After clambering up three flights of a dark apartment-building stairwell, I entered Higatei, which celebrates all things awamori, an Okinawan rice-based spirit.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 25, 2025
"I feel good; a little nervous, but I think it'll be fine. We'll hold on and give it everything!" said Nina Beeler, before clambering on board Cobra, an eight-year-old Swiss Brown cow.
From Barron's ● Oct. 20, 2025
Having so arrayed ourselves, we made our way along the pier, where others of our Regiment and the 14th were clambering up from the river.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
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.
