cluster

American  

[kluhs-ter] / ˈklʌs tər /

noun

• clusters
  plural

1. a number of things of the same kind, growing or held together; a bunch.

   a cluster of grapes.

2. a group of things or persons close together.

   There was a cluster of tourists at the gate.

3. U.S. Army. a small metal design placed on a ribbon representing an awarded medal to indicate that the same medal has been awarded again.

   oak-leaf cluster.

4. Phonetics. a succession of two or more contiguous consonants in an utterance, as the str- cluster of strap.

5. Astronomy. a group of neighboring stars, held together by mutual gravitation, that have essentially the same age and composition and thus supposedly a common origin.

---

verb (used with object)

• clusters,
  present (3rd person singular)
• clustered,
  past participle,  past
• clustering
  present participle

1. to gather into a cluster or clusters.

2. to furnish or cover with clusters.

verb (used without object)

• clusters,
  present (3rd person singular)
• clustered,
  past participle,  past
• clustering
  present participle

1. to form a cluster or clusters.

   The people clustered around to watch.

   Synonyms:

   bunch, crowd, throng, gather, group

cluster British  

/ ˈklʌstə /

noun

1. a number of things growing, fastened, or occurring close together

2. a number of persons or things grouped together

3. military a metal insignia worn on a medal ribbon to indicate a second award or a higher class of a decoration or order

4. military

   1. a group of bombs dropped in one stick, esp fragmentation and incendiary bombs

   2. the basic unit of mines used in laying a minefield

5. astronomy an aggregation of stars or galaxies moving together through space

6. a group of two or more consecutive vowels or consonants

7. statistics a naturally occurring subgroup of a population used in stratified sampling

8. chem

   1. a chemical compound or molecule containing groups of metal atoms joined by metal-to-metal bonds

   2. the group of linked metal atoms present

---

verb

1. to gather or be gathered in clusters

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• subcluster
  noun
• clustered
  adjective
• clustery
  adjective
• intercluster
  adjective
• unclustered
  adjective
• unclustering
  adjective
• clusteringly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• clusters
  plural

Participles

• clustering
  present
• clustered
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• cluster
  simple
• clusters
  simple
• have clustered
  perfect
• has clustered
  perfect
• am clustering
  progressive
• are clustering
  progressive
• is clustering
  progressive
• have been clustering
  perfect progressive
• has been clustering
  perfect progressive

Past

• clustered
  simple
• had clustered
  perfect
• was clustering
  progressive
• were clustering
  progressive
• had been clustering
  perfect progressive

Future

• will cluster
  simple
• will have clustered
  perfect
• will be clustering
  progressive
• will have been clustering
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of cluster

before 900; Middle English; Old English cluster, clyster bunch; cognate with Low German kluster

Explanation

A cluster is a small group of people or things. When you and your friends huddle awkwardly around the snack table at a party, whispering and trying to muster enough nerve to hit the dance floor, you’ve formed a cluster. Cluster comes to us from the Old English word clyster, meaning bunch. Nowadays, you can use cluster as either a noun or a verb. When we were kids, we would stand in a cluster (noun) on the street corner, eagerly awaiting the appearance of the Good Humor truck every afternoon. Then we would cluster (verb) eagerly around the driver, demanding ice cream. Virtually anything can form a cluster — flowers, cells, stars, human beings, and even events.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cluster clusters clustered clustering

These are the same markets where home builders tend to cluster.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2026

Bamita's death was one of at least 32 child deaths recorded since May in a cluster of remote villages in Balaghat district in India's Madhya Pradesh state, officials say.

From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026

Last week, the Indonesian ombudsman's office said an inspection had uncovered a cluster of indulgently furnished apartments inhabited by inmates on the grounds of the Cibinong prison in Bogor, south of the capital.

From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026

Those include cluster munitions and warheads that split up upon re-entry into the atmosphere.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026

Ahead of him, emerging from the wood in the dusk like a cluster of ambulant stars, came a herd of unicorns.

From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell

Earlier in the AI boom, companies large and small could rent clusters of AI chips from Amazon Web Services, for example, without having to make a multiyear commitment or pay an astronomical upfront fee.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026

The room loosened into little clusters of women catching up and talking about what came next.

From Slate ● Oct. 6, 2026

Planets and stars generate their own fields, but gaps in our understanding emerge when we attempt to explain the much larger scale magnetic fields threading galaxies and clusters, and possibly even cosmic voids.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 4, 2026

"When we look at the map of it, we can see the new clusters of trees being added...that's where the volunteers have been active," he said.

From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026

I see a rolled-up newspaper, a collection of picture books I read when I was little, a bin filled with Christmas lights in tangled clusters.

From "I Can Make This Promise" by Christine Day

Photos showed how the endangered moths clustered together so densely inside their caves, it was impossible to see the rock beneath.

From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026

Because of this dynamic, major gifts to colleges are often clustered around prominent schools.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 30, 2026

For example final assembly is done in so-called packaging houses, which are clustered in Taiwan.

From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026

In meetings, Morris has reseated North Texas players who clustered together so they could meet other transfers and OSU holdovers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

The wind that’s ever present outside our lobby doors due to the way the buildings are clustered feels special when it hits my face and blows back my hijab a bit.

From "Saints and Misfits" by S.K. Ali

He said they were clustering in large numbers and emerging from places including fridge seals, plug sockets, toasters and microwaves, adding: "It was like something out of a Stephen King film."

From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026

The clustering of buildings in areas such as Virginia’s “data center alley” means a single event—such as a tornado—can trigger multiple major claims.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026

As a result, the enhanced clustering does not create a stronger gravitational imprint on the cosmic microwave background.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 2, 2026

It also underwent a store refresh program, changing products and is clustering locations to boost profit and customer traffic.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026

Those same eyes that he had thought daunted and defeated, there they were lit with a fell light again, clustering in her out-thrust head.

From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien

Related Words

• array
• assemblage
• band
• batch
• bunch
• bundle
• chunk
• clump
• collection
• knot