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:
Hurts was able to jog back to the Eagles huddle but was then called to the sideline for concussion testing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 29, 2026
Inside the barren transit tent, which provides little escape from scorching 41C heat, Zarina sits alongside an anxious huddle of women and their children.
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026
Players came back to form a huddle around him and comfort him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2026
Those not in the huddle at all block the water with their bodies.
From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2026
On the rooftop to the old hideaway, I found a small huddle of teens playing marbles.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
At many companies, workers start whispering about possible cuts as soon as they spot leaders in impromptu huddles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026
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
You can see the players standing on the pitch separately in little huddles and on their own.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2025
Soft-spoken and reserved in public, Herbert has grown comfortable at the center of pregame huddles where he points his helmet toward teammates while imploring them to play together and for each other.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 27, 2024
Sometimes people in my neighborhood make huddles like this around two rappers when they’re battling it out.
From "Like Vanessa" by Tami Charles
Photos shared on social media showed dozens of construction workers huddled together.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
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
A middle-aged Latina woman and her two small children, a boy and a girl, were huddled on a U-shaped bench at the far end of the cabin.
From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz
People were huddling around to play 1999’s “Crazy Taxi” on a Sega Dreamcast, or 2005’s “Tekken 5” on a PlayStation 2.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 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
Two baby otter cubs have been rescued after they were found huddling for warmth in a car engine in North Ayrshire.
From BBC ● Feb. 18, 2026
Still, it was a lot more convenient to get quotes at individual desks than huddling around the ticker.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2025
The three of us get back into our own bed, huddling under the overcoats and trying not to roll into the hole in the mattress.
From "Angela's Ashes: A Memoir" by Frank McCourt
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.
