jumble
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to mix in a confused mass; put or throw together without order.
You've jumbled up all the cards.
- Antonyms:
- separate
-
to confuse mentally; muddle.
verb (used without object)
-
to be mixed together in a disorderly heap or mass.
-
to meet or come together confusedly.
noun
-
a mixed or disordered heap or mass.
a jumble of paper clips, rubber bands, and string.
-
a confused mixture; medley.
-
a state of confusion or disorder.
- Synonyms:
- chaos, muddle, mess, gallimaufry, farrago, hodgepodge
- Antonyms:
- order
-
Also jumbal a small, round, flat cake or cookie with a hole in the middle.
verb
-
to mingle (objects, papers, etc) in a state of disorder
-
(tr; usually passive) to remember in a confused form; muddle
noun
-
a disordered mass, state, etc
-
articles donated for a jumble sale
-
Also called: jumbal. a small thin cake, usually ring-shaped
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
jumblesimple
-
jumblessimple
-
have jumbledperfect
-
has jumbledperfect
-
am jumblingprogressive
-
are jumblingprogressive
-
is jumblingprogressive
-
have been jumblingperfect progressive
-
has been jumblingperfect progressive
Past
-
jumbledsimple
-
had jumbledperfect
-
was jumblingprogressive
-
were jumblingprogressive
-
had been jumblingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of jumble
1520–30; perhaps blend of joll to bump (now dial.) and tumble
Explanation
When you jumble something, you throw a bunch of items haphazardly together. For example, many people jumble many random things in a kitchen junk drawer. Use the verb jumble to describe what happens when you scramble or mix things up. Some kids, for example, jumble their Lego toys together in a big bin, while others like to sort the pieces by color or size. You can call the mix of items itself a jumble too. In the early 1500s, jumble meant "to move confusedly," and it was probably modeled on stumble. Later that century, it came to mean "mix or confuse."
Vocabulary lists containing jumble
Workshop 4, Part 2
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"The Death of the Hired Man" by Robert Frost
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Locomotion
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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.
They also made their way through the rubble, even through narrow tunnels formed in the jumble of broken walls, columns, and beams, searching for survivors.
From Barron's • Jul. 5, 2026
"I just think fast fashion, we don't need it. We were all brought up in jumble sale clothes and it doesn't matter if they get dirty that way either."
From BBC • Jun. 11, 2026
The disks sit in a jumble of gleaming metal equipment; Ms. Fox, in a pale-blue hazmat suit and surgical mask, peers in at them through a window.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 25, 2026
Her remains may lie somewhere beneath the modern-day urban jumble of Mexico City.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 25, 2026
The roof of the classroom block was crushed into a jumble of wood and metal and dust.
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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.
