clutter

[kluht-er]

verb (used with object)

1. to fill or litter with things in a disorderly manner.

   All kinds of papers cluttered the top of his desk.

verb (used without object)

1. British Dialect.,  to run in disorder; move with bustle and confusion.

2. British Dialect.,  to make a clatter.

3. to speak so rapidly and inexactly that distortions of sound and phrasing result.

noun

1. a disorderly heap or assemblage; litter.

   It's impossible to find anything in all this clutter.

   Synonyms: jumble, disorder, mess

2. a state or condition of confusion.

3. confused noise; clatter.

4. an echo or echoes on a radar screen that do not come from the target and can be caused by such factors as atmospheric conditions, objects other than the target, chaff, and jamming of the radar signal.

clutter

/ ˈklʌtə /

verb

1. to strew or amass (objects) in a disorderly manner

2. (intr) to move about in a bustling manner

3. (intr) to chatter or babble

noun

1. a disordered heap or mass of objects

2. a state of disorder

3. unwanted echoes that confuse the observation of signals on a radar screen

Other Word Forms

• overclutter verb (used with object)
• unclutter verb (used with object)
• uncluttered adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of clutter¹

1550–60; variant of clotter (now obsolete), equivalent to clot + -er ⁶

Word History and Origins

Origin of clutter¹

C15 clotter, from clotteren to _clot

Example Sentences

The clutter makes the space seem twice as small as it actually is.

Read more on Literature

In the one-way broadcast channel, guests could only emoji-react, so the thread wasn’t cluttered with giant stickers or, say, off-color replies from an unfiltered uncle.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Given his constant state of busyness, his studio is in a state of understandable clutter.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

What could have been clutter became cash, ultimately over $8,000: “We didn’t go to the ATM for years.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The unloved product was shoved into every available online space, cluttering up the digital landscape with junk and hoaxes while promising a far-off profit and a future of easy living.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• litter 
• muddle 
• strew