clot
Americannoun
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clots
plural
-
a mass or lump.
-
a semisolid mass, as of coagulated blood.
-
a small compact group of individuals.
a clot of sightseers massed at the entrance.
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British Informal. blockhead, dolt, clod.
verb (used without object)
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clots,
present (3rd person singular)
-
clotted,
past participle, past
-
clotting
present participle
verb (used with object)
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clots,
present (3rd person singular)
-
clotted,
past participle, past
-
clotting
present participle
-
to cause to clot.
-
to cover with clots.
Carefully aimed snowballs clotted the house.
-
to cause to become blocked or obscured.
to clot the book's narrative with too many characters.
noun
-
a soft thick lump or mass
a clot of blood
-
informal a stupid person; fool
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
clotsimple
-
clotssimple
-
have clottedperfect
-
has clottedperfect
-
am clottingprogressive
-
are clottingprogressive
-
is clottingprogressive
-
have been clottingperfect progressive
-
has been clottingperfect progressive
Past
-
clottedsimple
-
had clottedperfect
-
was clottingprogressive
-
were clottingprogressive
-
had been clottingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of clot
before 1000; Middle English; Old English clott lump; cognate with Middle Dutch klotte, German Klotz block, log ( cf. klutz)
Explanation
A clot is a mass of coagulated blood. It's your body's way of repairing itself, stopping blood from flowing and beginning to heal a wound. You can use the noun clot for any liquid that forms a solid lump or mass, though it's usually a medical term specifically related to blood. Some clots are useful, like the ones that form on skin that's been cut, while others — like those that occur inside blood vessels — can be harmful. Clot can also be a verb, meaning to clog or coagulate. The root is the German word Klotz, which means "lump or block."
Vocabulary lists containing clot
Long Way Down
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Half a World Away
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"Death of a Naturalist" by Seamus Heaney
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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:
In 1931, the governor of Arkansas nominated Hattie Caraway to temporarily replace her husband after he died of a blood clot.
From Slate ● Jul. 24, 2026
But across the country, families — first in smatterings, now in droves — are declining the single, inexpensive injection given at birth to newborns to help their blood clot.
From Salon ● May 7, 2026
Maradona, regarded as one of the greatest football players of all times, died in November 2020 at age 60, while recovering at home from surgery for a brain clot.
From Barron's ● Apr. 23, 2026
Low was also believed to have swallowed a blood clot from his nose or mouth.
From BBC ● Feb. 16, 2026
When my father was reunited with his parents, it was in claustrophobic conditions amid a multigenerational clot of extended family, all crammed into just a few bedrooms.
From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove
Experts later determined she suffered from severe anemia; blood clots in both wings and one kidney; liver and lung abnormalities; and inadequate bone marrow response.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
Venous thromboembolism refers to dangerous blood clots that form in a vein and may travel to the lungs.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 19, 2026
He was airlifted to the Cleveland Clinic’s main hospital, where doctors performed an emergency procedure to remove blood clots from his arteries and heart.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 27, 2026
"I pass clots every single cycle, ranging from anything like a 5p to a 50p," she said.
From BBC ● May 20, 2026
The plant specialized in pork products, and for eight hours a day I stood on a quarter-mile assembly line—more properly, a disassembly line—removing blood clots from the necks of dead pigs.
From "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien
Still, around the globe, other routes to citizenship are becoming more clotted.
From Barron's ● Jun. 7, 2026
One tenacious fallacy about Shakespeare is that his speeches are always clotted with gargantuan words; Macbeth’s “multitudinous seas incarnadine” is a classic example.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 22, 2026
High-fat creams generally contain 30-40% fat and include whipping cream, double cream and clotted cream.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 21, 2025
Some say he spent most tea times with New Yorker reporter Emily Hahn, two legends living legendarily, sharing tales over cucumber sandwiches, curried prawns, scones with clotted cream and strong black tea.
From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2025
Her compliments were clotted with an extravagance that made them seem insincere, yet her friends smiled and bloomed under them.
From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
It also injects a bit of saliva, which contains anticoagulants to prevent the host’s blood from clotting as the mosquito feeds.
From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026
Pulmonary embolism and hereditary coagulopathy — an arterial blockage in the lungs and issues with blood clotting either too much or too little — contributed to his death, People said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 30, 2026
Researchers led by Flinders University, working with international collaborators, have uncovered how a rare blood clotting condition can develop after certain COVID19 adenovirus-based vaccines or even after a natural adenovirus infection.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 10, 2026
Revenue tied to Eliquis, a blood thinner that reduces the risk of clotting and stroke, also increased 8% .
From Barron's ● Feb. 3, 2026
The blood has been stripped of its clotting factors.
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
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.
