cluster

American  

[kluhs-ter] / ˈklʌs tər /

noun

• clusters
  plural

1. a number of things of the same kind, growing or held together; a bunch.

   a cluster of grapes.

2. a group of things or persons close together.

   There was a cluster of tourists at the gate.

3. U.S. Army. a small metal design placed on a ribbon representing an awarded medal to indicate that the same medal has been awarded again.

   oak-leaf cluster.

4. Phonetics. a succession of two or more contiguous consonants in an utterance, as the str- cluster of strap.

5. Astronomy. a group of neighboring stars, held together by mutual gravitation, that have essentially the same age and composition and thus supposedly a common origin.

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verb (used with object)

• clusters,
  present (3rd person singular)
• clustered,
  past participle,  past
• clustering
  present participle

1. to gather into a cluster or clusters.

2. to furnish or cover with clusters.

verb (used without object)

• clusters,
  present (3rd person singular)
• clustered,
  past participle,  past
• clustering
  present participle

1. to form a cluster or clusters.

   The people clustered around to watch.

   Synonyms:

   bunch, crowd, throng, gather, group

cluster British  

/ ˈklʌstə /

noun

1. a number of things growing, fastened, or occurring close together

2. a number of persons or things grouped together

3. military a metal insignia worn on a medal ribbon to indicate a second award or a higher class of a decoration or order

4. military

   1. a group of bombs dropped in one stick, esp fragmentation and incendiary bombs

   2. the basic unit of mines used in laying a minefield

5. astronomy an aggregation of stars or galaxies moving together through space

6. a group of two or more consecutive vowels or consonants

7. statistics a naturally occurring subgroup of a population used in stratified sampling

8. chem

   1. a chemical compound or molecule containing groups of metal atoms joined by metal-to-metal bonds

   2. the group of linked metal atoms present

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verb

1. to gather or be gathered in clusters

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• subcluster
  noun
• clustered
  adjective
• clustery
  adjective
• intercluster
  adjective
• unclustered
  adjective
• unclustering
  adjective
• clusteringly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• clusters
  plural

Participles

• clustering
  present
• clustered
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• cluster
  simple
• clusters
  simple
• have clustered
  perfect
• has clustered
  perfect
• am clustering
  progressive
• are clustering
  progressive
• is clustering
  progressive
• have been clustering
  perfect progressive
• has been clustering
  perfect progressive

Past

• clustered
  simple
• had clustered
  perfect
• was clustering
  progressive
• were clustering
  progressive
• had been clustering
  perfect progressive

Future

• will cluster
  simple
• will have clustered
  perfect
• will be clustering
  progressive
• will have been clustering
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of cluster

before 900; Middle English; Old English cluster, clyster bunch; cognate with Low German kluster

Explanation

A cluster is a small group of people or things. When you and your friends huddle awkwardly around the snack table at a party, whispering and trying to muster enough nerve to hit the dance floor, you’ve formed a cluster. Cluster comes to us from the Old English word clyster, meaning bunch. Nowadays, you can use cluster as either a noun or a verb. When we were kids, we would stand in a cluster (noun) on the street corner, eagerly awaiting the appearance of the Good Humor truck every afternoon. Then we would cluster (verb) eagerly around the driver, demanding ice cream. Virtually anything can form a cluster — flowers, cells, stars, human beings, and even events.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cluster clusters clustered clustering

Tyrone is known for its cluster of engineering and manufacturing firms and today more than 40% of the world's mobile crushing and screening equipment is made in the Mid Ulster area.

From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026

How many cyclones make up a cluster depends on both location and season, but the researchers found an average of 2.5 cyclones per event.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 14, 2026

Her odyssey also takes her to Falster, an island at the bottom of the country, where she finds “a cluster of sooty coppers on a few glossy yellow flowers.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026

Around that time, unknown to anyone, a cluster of small lakes atop the Purepu Glacier, nearly 17,000 feet above sea level, had begun growing.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026

And then, of course, he’d play speed games for an additional five or more hours with the Collins cluster or at one of the clubs.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

It keeps people anchored to Earth, guides planets around the Sun, helps gather stars into galaxies, and plays a central role in shaping the enormous cosmic web of galaxy clusters that stretches across the universe.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026

To overcome U.S. barriers, Huawei is developing alternative chip designs, bundling chips into massive clusters, and improving data transmission.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026

Police encourage labourers to live in clusters and avoid venturing out after dark.

From Barron's ● Sep. 14, 2026

Understanding why cyclone clusters form and how they affect the ice will therefore be important for predicting how the region changes in the decades ahead.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 14, 2026

I try to imagine the flowers’ petals are actually wings, but all I see are clusters of flowers.

From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera

The swarm of seismic activity was clustered around the Newport-Inglewood Fault Zone, a strike-slip fault that runs from Culver City to Newport Beach.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2026

In meetings, Morris has reseated North Texas players who clustered together so they could meet other transfers and OSU holdovers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

From a distance, Malaysia's Forest City looks 3D-printed: a bristle of identical white blocks clustered on an otherwise unremarkable coastline.

From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026

The plans are clustered in the tech sector, and AI investment is “still the story.”

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026

Most of the other students are clustered in the hallway, talking and laughing.

From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy

That means the importance of cyclone clustering extends beyond the strength of any individual storm.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 14, 2026

That stronger clustering might also appear to explain observations suggesting that the Universe contains denser structures than predicted.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 2, 2026

This resulted in most of the 12,000-strong population clustering around the coastal edges with usable space at a premium on an island that measures only 21 square kilometres.

From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026

It also underwent a store refresh program, changing products and is clustering locations to boost profit and customer traffic.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026

But there was nothing to be seen but clustering bushes and water weeds and low-hanging boughs of yew.

From "The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage" by Philip Pullman

Related Words

• array
• assemblage
• band
• batch
• bunch
• bundle
• chunk
• clump
• collection
• knot