clatter
Americanverb (used without object)
-
to make a loud, rattling sound, as that produced by hard objects striking rapidly one against the other.
The shutters clattered in the wind.
-
to move rapidly with such a sound.
The iron-wheeled cart clattered down the street.
-
to talk fast and noisily; chatter.
They clattered on and on about their children.
verb (used with object)
noun
-
a rattling noise or series of rattling noises.
The stagecoach made a terrible clatter going over the wooden bridge.
-
noisy disturbance; din; racket.
-
noisy talk; din of voices.
They had to shout over the clatter at the cocktail party.
-
idle talk; gossip.
verb
-
to make or cause to make a rattling noise, esp as a result of movement
-
(intr) to chatter
noun
-
a rattling sound or noise
-
a noisy commotion, such as one caused by loud chatter
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
clattersimple
-
clatterssimple
-
have clatteredperfect
-
has clatteredperfect
-
am clatteringprogressive
-
are clatteringprogressive
-
is clatteringprogressive
-
have been clatteringperfect progressive
-
has been clatteringperfect progressive
Past
-
clatteredsimple
-
had clatteredperfect
-
was clatteringprogressive
-
were clatteringprogressive
-
had been clatteringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of clatter
before 1050; Middle English clateren, Old English clatr- (in clatrunge ); cognate with Dutch klateren to rattle; see -er 6
Explanation
A clatter is a clacking or rattling sound, like the clatter of horse hooves on pavement or the clatter of toys being thrown down a wooden staircase by an angry child. Clatter is also a verb, meaning "to make a continuous rattling or clanking sound." You might clatter down the school hallway in your clogs, or watch your dogs clatter across a frozen pond, their toenails clicking on the ice. Clatter comes from the Old English onomatopoeic clatrung, "a clattering," or simply "noise."
Vocabulary lists containing clatter
Unit 4: Powerful Openings
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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 clatter of cutlery as an atmosphere sours over dinner.
From BBC ● Apr. 24, 2026
The shuffling clatter of domino-shaped ceramic tiles drowned out the women’s laughter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
Aromatics are where things begin: ginger, garlic, onions and their cousins; the soft clatter of mirepoix or soffritto; a bloom of spices warming in fat.
From Salon ● Feb. 8, 2026
Dishes clatter, steam bursts from large cooking pots and music is seeping through the bustling chatter of Russian pensioners, hunched over bowls of free meals in a Saint Petersburg soup kitchen.
From Barron's ● Feb. 6, 2026
Everything was cold and quiet except for a milk truck that idled at the rear entrance as two silent, sleepy-looking men unloaded the wire crates and let them fall with a clatter on the asphalt.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
She watches a humanoid robot totter around a demonstration kitchen until it trips on a chair and clatters to the ground.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026
The 19-year-old's quickest time on the board so far is a 1:18.667 and on his latest run, clatters the kerbs in the borrowed Haas.
From BBC ● May 16, 2024
A conveyor clatters as the last papers are carried to the bundlers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 10, 2024
“Adaptation” was shot on 16 millimeter color film — the projector clatters away in the gallery on a derrick-like stand — using scale models and other practical effects.
From New York Times ● Mar. 3, 2022
The burner David gave me clatters to the floor.
From "Internment" by Samira Ahmed
The United Press International and Associated Press teletypes clattered away in a corner of the Columbus Citizen-Journal’s newsroom where I worked as a reporter in the 1970s.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 8, 2026
But moments later Davide Bartesaghi clattered into Mikael Ellertsson, leaving Stanciu with the task of beating France goalkeeper Mike Maignan and taking a shock three points.
From Barron's ● Jan. 8, 2026
In the next over, Carse produced a beauty that clattered the off stump, only for a marginal overstep to be detected.
From BBC ● Dec. 6, 2024
In an ordinary industrial building off a busy Orange County street, a Seussian contraption, nearly 100 feet long, clattered to life.
From New York Times ● Jun. 16, 2024
When they clattered over the first wooden bridge south of the crossroads, Jonathan was still far behind.
From "The Fighting Ground" by Avi
Once it missed the dishwasher altogether, sending a plate clattering to the floor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
Emphasising that concept, musical motifs from Arirang appear on the album's opening track, Body To Body, harnessed to a clattering hip-hop beat.
From BBC ● Mar. 20, 2026
He’s jury-rigged a burglar alarm with foam so it makes a clattering sound loud enough for the neighbor’s Ring camera to pick up, he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 26, 2025
Johnson was dismissed in the 55th minute after clattering into Lopez, a needless challenge that initially earned a yellow card from Erik Lambrechts before VAR sent him trudging to the dressing room.
From Barron's ● Nov. 4, 2025
I saw her wandering in the gardens with a small boy, Maxim’s father, clattering behind her on his hobby horse.
From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier
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.
