cluster
[kluhs-ter]
- a number of things of the same kind, growing or held together; a bunch: a cluster of grapes.
- a group of things or persons close together: There was a cluster of tourists at the gate.
- 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.
- Phonetics. a succession of two or more contiguous consonants in an utterance, as the str- cluster of strap.
- 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.Compare globular cluster, open cluster, stellar association.
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- to gather into a cluster or clusters.
- to furnish or cover with clusters.
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- to form a cluster or clusters: The people clustered around to watch.
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Origin of cluster
before 900; Middle English; Old English cluster, clyster bunch; cognate with Low German kluster
Synonyms
See more synonyms for cluster on Thesaurus.com8. group, gather, throng, crowd, bunch.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for cluster
Contemporary Examples
To his credit, Huckabee is conscious of the fact that he will need a cluster of deep-pocketed patrons and bundlers.
Art Basel itself is but the center of a cluster of mega-shows taking place in Miami this week.
Sneer and Clothing in Miami: Inside The $3 Billion Woodstock of Contemporary ArtJay Michaelson
December 6, 2014
But the crown itself (or headband or cluster of buds) screams disingenuous.
There is now a black dot in a cluster of reeds about two hundred meters downstream.
Whatever You Do Someone Will Die. A Short Story About Impossible Choices in IraqNathan Bradley Bethea
August 31, 2014
My millennial friends have waited in line beside a cluster of Orthodox women in long dark skirts to be seen by Peggy.
Historical Examples
But see the church in the hollow, and the folk who cluster in the churchyard!
The White CompanyArthur Conan Doyle
Curious legends often cluster round these relics of ancient times.
English VillagesP. H. Ditchfield
Did they not, at their own church, cluster together like bees, when they saw me enter it?
Clarissa, Volume 3 (of 9)Samuel Richardson
He pointed down to a cluster of Lascars with white turbans on their heads.
The HarborErnest Poole
Its cluster of snowy flowers suggested a corner of a royal garden.
L'AssommoirEmile Zola
cluster
- a number of things growing, fastened, or occurring close together
- a number of persons or things grouped together
- US military a metal insignia worn on a medal ribbon to indicate a second award or a higher class of a decoration or order
- military
- a group of bombs dropped in one stick, esp fragmentation and incendiary bombs
- the basic unit of mines used in laying a minefield
- astronomy an aggregation of stars or galaxies moving together through space
- a group of two or more consecutive vowels or consonants
- statistics a naturally occurring subgroup of a population used in stratified sampling
- chem
- a chemical compound or molecule containing groups of metal atoms joined by metal-to-metal bonds
- the group of linked metal atoms present
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- to gather or be gathered in clusters
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Word Origin
Old English clyster; related to Low German Kluster; see clod, clot
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for cluster
n.
Old English clyster "cluster," probably from the same root as clot (n.). Of stars, from 1727. Cluster-bomb attested from 1967.
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v.
late 14c. (transitive), from cluster (n.). Intransitive sense from 1540s. Related: Clustered; clustering.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper