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.

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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

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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 people here are trying to live the American dream,” he said, driving by a cluster of RVs in a fenced yard landscaped with young trees.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026

Researchers have now shown for the first time that a globular cluster stellar stream can be used to investigate dark matter in a galaxy beyond the Milky Way.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 24, 2026

The clouds decided to cluster above and surprise me midtrip, releasing the rain down hard as I finished the journey, weaving as strategically as possible to avoid getting splashed by the cars next to me.

From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2026

There's a ripple of laughter during We Can't Be Friends, meanwhile, when a tiny cluster of the audience screams over the "silence challenge", external that's become a meme during the tour's American leg.

From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026

The town had soon given way to a cluster of farm buildings, a barn of some kind where farm machinery was stacked, and then open land and a forest.

From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell

"When we look at how stars orbit within galaxies or how galaxies move within galaxy clusters, some appear to be traveling way too fast for the amount of visible matter they contain."

From Science Daily ● Aug. 25, 2026

Pre-season coaching has reinforced the players' understanding around supporting team-mates to create clusters of threes.

From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026

Driving north from Melides toward the town of Comporta, through the western reaches of Portugal’s Alentejo region, I passed expansive rice fields, forests of umbrella pines and clusters of whitewashed homes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026

When Hindenburg Omens occur in clusters, they tend to be more effective at sniffing out near-term weakness.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026

Alvarez saw black clusters of antiaircraft flak bursting all around his plane.

From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin

Many are clustered around London and the south of England – areas which are officially in drought at the moment.

From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026

The San Fernando Valley is the epicenter of California’s artificial-stone-cutting industry, where dozens of shops are clustered.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026

A child lay beneath a blue sheet, hooked to a respirator, with a team of doctors and nurses clustered around the bed.

From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026

The plans are clustered in the tech sector, and AI investment is “still the story.”

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026

Across the street a crowd of reporters, photographers and TV cameramen from all over the country watched the tense scene as they stood clustered behind a police barrier.

From "Because They Marched" by Russell Freedman

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

The clustering of short positions presents “a dormant risk of a bullish short-covering” although “it may require a bullish catalyst to ignite upside potential,” he adds.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 27, 2026

Determining where bitcoin buyers are clustering can be extremely difficult.

From MarketWatch ● Mar. 12, 2026

And so I closed the Bible and to that group of women clustering close, I told the truth about myself—my self-centeredness, my stinginess, my lack of love.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

Related Words

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