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:
At full-time on Sunday, Slegers gathered her dejected players in a familiar team huddle before walking over to their fans.
From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026
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
“They’ll close the road. A lot of them huddle up. The reason they huddle up is because it’s dangerous.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
Those not in the huddle at all block the water with their bodies.
From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2026
I peek through the crack in the door to find men and women in army fatigues arguing as they huddle over a Battleship board game.
From "Amari and the Night Brothers" by B.B. Alston
Some pray in pregame huddles, others pray with headphones and the Hallow app.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
Marcus has been there, throughout halftimes, huddles, on the court.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 1, 2026
You can see the players standing on the pitch separately in little huddles and on their own.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2025
Hynes: When you see their huddles, like pregame stuff it just hypes you up, and you're just like, "Yeah, that's a real family."
From Salon ● Nov. 30, 2024
Well, whispering really, in little huddles in the halls and the atrium like they’re discussing plays during a basketball game.
From "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas
Yasya, Varvara and two girls both named Anya -- 11-year-old friends since kindergarten -- huddled around a table.
From Barron's ● Oct. 21, 2026
Earlier this morning, she was huddled in a room full of men—each brandishing neatly bullet-pointed memos—drumming up talking points about A.I. safety that will soon be disseminated across Capitol Hill.
From Slate ● Oct. 15, 2026
Mr. Netanyahu, the Israel Defense Forces chief of staff, several other officials and I huddled around a small table.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
Photos shared on social media showed dozens of construction workers huddled together.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
I was still hearing it again in my head when we were back upstairs in our attic room that night, huddled under our blankets.
From "An Elephant in the Garden" by Michael Morpurgo
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
Teams from the two companies have been huddling for months to plan for the melding of the two operations as soon as Paramount receives all of its regulatory approvals.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026
The Knicks had swept the favored Spurs in their home barn, edging closer to a long-forlorn franchise’s first championship since Nixon was huddling with Haldeman.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 9, 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
“Cloud-Men!” they murmured, huddling closer together for comfort.
From "James and the Giant Peach" by Roald Dahl
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
