clutter
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
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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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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
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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:
And it’s not by accident that coastal habitats are aggressively protected and most of the shoreline is free of mega resorts and architectural clutter.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2026
Last year, they stayed in "a very Scandinavian house" in suburban Copenhagen, which was "all on one level and had no clutter".
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026
Classical music CDs and cassette tapes that Monson de Kansky records for ballet class clutter her shelves.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
Once the dry clutter is gone, what remains tends to sort itself into a few familiar categories:
From Salon ● May 5, 2026
Evelyn Lincoln made her way through the clutter of cameras, cables, and bright lights in the Oval Office.
From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin
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
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
A jumble of rectangular timber pieces the size of railroad ties clutters the hillside below, evidence of their morning’s work.
From Scientific American ● Apr. 26, 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
Low-Earth orbit—the zone inhabited by the satellites that give us GPS, remote broadband and weather forecasts—is getting cluttered.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
"The weather is not good," Aminat Jimoh told AFP as he fried tofu by a cluttered roadside.
From Barron's ● Apr. 8, 2026
Another insider says the changes make sense because the "landscape is cluttered", with too many different national-level initiatives trying to tackle different kinds of problems.
From BBC ● Jan. 24, 2026
Their bedroom may be cluttered with all manner of diversion and playthings, but what they really want is that shiny, as-yet unattained object — Rick Caruso! — beckoning from behind glass.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 4, 2026
Very much like the rest of the house, the kitchen was cluttered with paintings and artifacts all over the walls.
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
I asked Carter what she thinks are the four most common cluttering mistakes - and how you can fix them.
From BBC ● Jun. 28, 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
Markham took the news quite casually when I walked into his office and told him that he might acquire a model student who would never bother him by cluttering up his lab with experimental apparatus.
From "Double Helix" by James D. Watson
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.
