huddle
Americanverb (used without object)
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huddles,
present (3rd person singular)
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huddled,
past participle, past
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huddling
present participle
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to gather or crowd together in a close mass.
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to crouch, curl up, or draw oneself together.
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Football. to get together in a huddle.
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to confer or consult; meet to discuss, exchange ideas, or make a decision.
verb (used with object)
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huddles,
present (3rd person singular)
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huddled,
past participle, past
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huddling
present participle
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to heap or crowd together closely.
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to draw (oneself ) closely together, as in crouching; nestle (often followed byup ).
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Chiefly British. to do hastily and carelessly (often followed by up, over, ortogether ).
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to put on (clothes) with careless haste (often followed byon ).
noun
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huddles
plural
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a closely gathered group, mass, or heap; bunch.
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Football. a gathering of the offensive team in a close circle or line behind the line of scrimmage for instructions, signals, etc., from the team captain or quarterback, usually held before each offensive play.
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a conference, or consultation, especially a private meeting to discuss serious matters.
The labor representatives have been in a huddle for two hours.
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confusion or disorder.
noun
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a heaped or crowded mass of people or things
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informal a private or impromptu conference (esp in the phrase go into a huddle )
verb
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to crowd or cause to crowd or nestle closely together
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(often foll by up) to draw or hunch (oneself), as through cold
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informal (intr) to meet and confer privately
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(tr) to do (something) in a careless way
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rare (tr) to put on (clothes) hurriedly
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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huddlesimple
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huddlessimple
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have huddledperfect
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has huddledperfect
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am huddlingprogressive
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are huddlingprogressive
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is huddlingprogressive
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have been huddlingperfect progressive
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has been huddlingperfect progressive
Past
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huddledsimple
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had huddledperfect
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was huddlingprogressive
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were huddlingprogressive
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had been huddlingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of huddle
1570–80; hud- (weak grade of root found in hide 1 ) + -le; replacing Middle English hoder, equivalent to hod- (variant hud- ) + -er -er 6
Explanation
In a football game, a huddle is a quick conference before a play. Huddle can also be a dense and disorganized crowd, like a group of people standing under an awning waiting for the rain to pass. As a verb huddle means to draw people together or to crouch low or curl up. The word comes from the late 16th century, when it meant “to conceal.” That makes sense. When a burglar comes into your home, you might huddle in the closet so he'll leave without harming you. When your mom comes to see if you’re sleeping, you might huddle under your blankets with your flashlight so she won’t know you’re still up reading.
Vocabulary lists containing huddle
Set, Hut! Football Vocabulary
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Comfy Cozy Lingo
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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:
"People will say it is performative to meet in the middle of the pitch," Marsch said of the big group huddle at full-time.
From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2026
Those not in the huddle at all block the water with their bodies.
From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2026
After Chung and Klugo huddle, they line up on the court like two halves of the same body, moving in tandem as the balls ricochet off rackets.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2026
“Don’t freak out,” Croddick recalled telling the Princeton huddle.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
American soldiers huddle behind walls and in foxholes and see a tiny Filipino woman walk alone through the war-torn streets, her shoulders back as shells burst all around her.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
Next to the prediction-markets screen, another crowd huddles around a secondary screen to watch the trading action unfold.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 13, 2026
Marcus has been there, throughout halftimes, huddles, on the court.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 1, 2026
“This place terrifies me,” says Kamal as he huddles in the dark, wishing he could go home.
From Salon ● Oct. 17, 2024
In a looped video from the Instagram post, a group of bees huddles around water dripping from a car’s undercarriage.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2024
I climb in and sit by myself in a corner of the truck while the rest of .the family huddles closely together.
From "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers" by Loung Ung
The group of people huddled around him wanted to void the transaction just to see him pay again.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 22, 2026
But in Indianapolis, Goldthorpe kept himself out of public view, even ushered out of a side door of the clubhouse to avoid media huddled by the front entrance.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
Inside an Omaha test kitchen, executives at Conagra recently huddled over plastic trays of microwaved eggs, potatoes and sausage.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
It’s a busy Saturday morning in central London and we’re huddled in the basement of an equally busy coffee shop.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
But Clare supposed, counting back the All Hallows’ Eves he’d spent huddled in his bed with moss stuffed in his good ear, he’d been in Deadwood for at least four years.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
Diplomats posted to NATO’s arched-glass headquarters in Brussels began grabbing each other in their offices and huddling in regional groupings, according to people close to the talks, discussing whether their alliance was breaking apart.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
Perez’s illustrations show kids huddling on a boat, or stuck inside with their soccer balls, or waving at other kids across the way.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2026
I give these parties every year, and there are always a handful of smokers, bundled up in their coats, huddling against the wind.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 8, 2026
At dusk on the second day, about 75 Rongelapese crowded the decks and cabins of the ship, many of them huddling under a tarp the ship’s first mate, Martini Gotjé, had strung up.
From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2025
Along the main thoroughfare, the houses were built right at the edge of the road, as if huddling for warmth during the cold Polish winters, and hoping for company in summer.
From "Bone Gap" by Laura Ruby
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.
