clutter

American  

[kluht-er] / ˈklʌt ər /

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.

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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 British  

/ 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

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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

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!

Example Sentences

Where others saw mere clutter, Margareta Magnusson spotted a moral issue: Who is responsible for what she called “the mountain of crap” most of us accumulate over a lifetime?

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 19, 2026

Carson resident Evy Llamas recalled seeing furniture constantly moving in and out from the house down the street, new faces coming and going, and what appeared to be heavy clutter inside.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 6, 2026

A tube of lipstick tossed onto a scatter of counter clutter.

From Salon • Feb. 19, 2026

Sarah was also able to donate to charity shops and says it felt great to move to Manchester for a fresh start without clutter.

From BBC • Feb. 3, 2026

More clutter on the third floor: boxes of jars, metal disks, and rusty jigsaws; buckets of what might be electrical components; engineering manuals in piles around a toilet.

From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr

Related Words

• litter
• muddle
• strew