clutter
Americanverb (used with object)
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clutters,
present (3rd person singular)
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cluttered,
past participle, past
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cluttering
present participle
verb (used without object)
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clutters,
present (3rd person singular)
-
cluttered,
past participle, past
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cluttering
present participle
-
British Dialect. to run in disorder; move with bustle and confusion.
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British Dialect. to make a clatter.
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to speak so rapidly and inexactly that distortions of sound and phrasing result.
noun
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clutters
plural
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a disorderly heap or assemblage; litter.
It's impossible to find anything in all this clutter.
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a state or condition of confusion.
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confused noise; clatter.
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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.
verb
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to strew or amass (objects) in a disorderly manner
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(intr) to move about in a bustling manner
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(intr) to chatter or babble
noun
-
a disordered heap or mass of objects
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a state of disorder
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unwanted echoes that confuse the observation of signals on a radar screen
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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cluttersimple
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clutterssimple
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have clutteredperfect
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has clutteredperfect
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am clutteringprogressive
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are clutteringprogressive
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is clutteringprogressive
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have been clutteringperfect progressive
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has been clutteringperfect progressive
Past
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clutteredsimple
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had clutteredperfect
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was clutteringprogressive
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were clutteringprogressive
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had been clutteringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of clutter
1550–60; variant of clotter (now obsolete), equivalent to clot + -er 6
Explanation
The word clutter can mean a messy jumble of objects. The disorganized clutter of shoes, hats, shirts, belts, jackets, and pants makes it impossible to find a thing in your closet! Clutter can describe all those disorderly random things in your purse, but it can also refer to the random echoes that show up on a radar screen. The echos mix with other desired signals and can make it hard to track everything. As a verb, clutter is what you do when you fill up a space with a crazy mix of objects. You may clutter up the attic when you finally clean out that closet!
Vocabulary lists containing clutter
Achievement First 5th Grade IA 1 Words
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"A Village After Dark" by Kazuo Ishiguro
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Sula
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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:
Otherwise you’ve just traded physical clutter for digital clutter.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 29, 2026
Often this means employing a one-in, one-out rule, placing her in a near constant circle of life on Facebook Marketplace to avoid clutter.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
Bothwell, the astronomer, also said the collision would provide a cautionary tale about the issue of ever-accumulating, human-made space clutter.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
And getting readers to care about journalism in a time when tech execs actively ensure real writing is buried under mountains of digital clutter, all fighting for your attention, can be next to impossible.
From Salon ● May 1, 2026
I’ve heard him say, to one of the hovering women who was making feeble attempts to corral some of the moldier clutter.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
Moreover, could it actually be a good thing that the 5th Circuit clutters SCOTUS’ docket with so many obviously wrong decisions?
From Slate ● Jun. 12, 2026
Vanderbilt struggles to find a tone and clutters the film with extra story lines to diminishing results.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2025
Retrotransposons, or retroelements, are pieces of DNA that, when transcribed to RNA, code for enzymes that copy RNA back into DNA in the genome -- a self-serving cycle that clutters the genome with retrotransposon DNA.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 20, 2024
But how many more battles and wars, how much more history clutters our minds today than ever occupied theirs.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 28, 2023
Booth checks to make sure that nothing clutters the passage.
From "Lincoln's Last Days: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever" by Bill O'Reilly
On Wednesday, speaking from his California studio cluttered with knick-knacks, Piker hit back.
From Barron's ● Aug. 28, 2026
Every user I knew complained it was inconsistent, illogical, cluttered, had clunky navigation and ignored accessibility standards.
From Salon ● Aug. 24, 2026
The former staffers have sent “don’t you dare” letters to the commission, and one of them argued that the view of the downtown skyline would be cluttered and commercialized.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026
The logic behind these rules is that investors should see the fair value of the investments rather than a cluttered balance sheet of many different businesses.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 2026
The walls around us are cluttered with construction paper posters, marker-drawn announcements for spring sports tryouts, and Black History Month events.
From "The Sea in Winter" by Christine Day
“White tents. Green grass. Blue skies. The mountains. There’s not many things cluttering it up.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 10, 2026
You don’t have to worry about cluttering your living space with titles you’ve read once and may never read again.
From Slate ● Mar. 8, 2026
In our experience, seamless connecting and no cables cluttering the center console are reasons enough to insist on wireless smartphone interfacing.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 26, 2025
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.
From Salon ● Nov. 7, 2025
The last thing I need is another person cluttering up my life right now.
From "The Thing About Jellyfish" by Ali Benjamin
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.
