cluttered; cluttering; clutters
chiefly dialectal
: to run in disorder
: to fill or cover with scattered or disordered things that impede movement or reduce effectiveness
a room cluttered with toys
—often used with upToo many signs were cluttering up the street corner.
1
a
: a crowded or confused mass or collection
a clutter of motels and restaurants
b
: things that clutter a place
tried to minimize the unnecessary clutter in her house
2
: interfering radar echoes caused by reflection from objects (as on the ground) other than the target
3
chiefly dialectal
: disturbance, hubbub
Synonyms
Noun
- agglomerate
- agglomeration
- alphabet soup
- assortment
- botch
- collage
- crazy quilt
- farrago
- gallimaufry
- grab bag
- gumbo
- hash
- hodgepodge
- hotchpotch
- jambalaya
- jumble
- jungle
- litter
- macédoine
- medley
- mélange
- menagerie
- miscellanea
- miscellany
- mishmash
- mixed bag
- montage
- motley
- muddle
- olio
- olla podrida
- omnium-gatherum
- pastiche
- patchwork
- patchwork quilt
- potpourri
- ragbag
- ragout
- rummage
- salad
- salmagundi
- scramble
- shuffle
- smorgasbord
- stew
- tumble
- variety
- welter
Examples of clutter in a Sentence
Verb
The garage was cluttered with tools.
Try to avoid cluttering your desk with books and papers.
Noun
There's a lot of unnecessary clutter in the house.
a scrapbook that was a clutter of snapshots, diary entries, letters, and newspaper clippings
Recent Examples on the Web
Denise Chow, NBC News, 16 Apr. 2024
Doing so without cluttering your home or office's aesthetic can also be tricky.
—Stackcommerce Team, PCMAG, 21 Mar. 2024
In general, large-scale accessories will offer a bigger impact without cluttering up the space.
—Jessica Bennett, Better Homes & Gardens, 20 Mar. 2024
The shades of blue cluttering your eye shadow palette are, in one regard, capitalism doing its thing.
—Emily Leibert, Allure, 25 Jan. 2024
With little warning, the clouds cluttering the horizon start to vanish before your eyes.
—Ayurella Horn-Muller, CNN, 30 Mar. 2024
Petitions were swiftly launched and cluttered with names.
—Catherine Porter, New York Times, 14 Feb. 2024
The more information that's added to a graphic, the greater potential to clutter the message, Rhome said.
—USA TODAY, 30 Jan. 2024
That day at MoMA, Jonas and Janevski were talking in the museum’s model room, where doll-size configurations of exhibits are imagined, and maquettes of the museum’s various spaces, each for a different forthcoming show, clutter the tables.
—Susan Dominus Emiliano Granado, New York Times, 1 Mar. 2024
Daryl Austin, USA TODAY, 25 Apr. 2024
Ditch the dead weight and clutter, and clear a passage forward.
—Eugenia Last, The Mercury News, 26 Mar. 2024
Part of Biden's problem is that his policies have yet to break through the daily clutter of life.
—TIME, 4 Mar. 2024
Robot vacuums are great for maintaining dust-free floors, especially in homes with hard flooring or low-pile carpets and in rooms with minimal clutter.
—Madison Yauger, Peoplemag, 1 Mar. 2024
The clutter engulfs a car parked in the driveway, and even blocks the front door.
—Pilar Arias, Fox News, 3 Apr. 2024
There's also a lot of clutter in an Echo Show slideshow that you can get rid of.
—Nena Farrell, WIRED, 29 Mar. 2024
If dust mites are the problem, remove clutter and items that collect dust in the home and wash sheets, pillowcases and blankets at least once a week.
—Katia Hetter, CNN, 27 Mar. 2024
Boxes of blank ammunition were piled high on shelves, guns were leaned against the wall, and loose rounds were scattered on tables among tools and other clutter.
—Gene Maddaus, Variety, 4 Mar. 2024
Verb
Tens of thousands of pieces of such junk — and millions more smaller bits of orbital debris — already clutter the space around the planet.
—Denise Chow, NBC News, 16 Apr. 2024
Doing so without cluttering your home or office's aesthetic can also be tricky.
—Stackcommerce Team, PCMAG, 21 Mar. 2024
In general, large-scale accessories will offer a bigger impact without cluttering up the space.
—Jessica Bennett, Better Homes & Gardens, 20 Mar. 2024
The shades of blue cluttering your eye shadow palette are, in one regard, capitalism doing its thing.
—Emily Leibert, Allure, 25 Jan. 2024
With little warning, the clouds cluttering the horizon start to vanish before your eyes.
—Ayurella Horn-Muller, CNN, 30 Mar. 2024
Petitions were swiftly launched and cluttered with names.
—Catherine Porter, New York Times, 14 Feb. 2024
The more information that's added to a graphic, the greater potential to clutter the message, Rhome said.
—USA TODAY, 30 Jan. 2024
That day at MoMA, Jonas and Janevski were talking in the museum’s model room, where doll-size configurations of exhibits are imagined, and maquettes of the museum’s various spaces, each for a different forthcoming show, clutter the tables.
—Susan Dominus Emiliano Granado, New York Times, 1 Mar. 2024
Noun
Being surrounded by too much clutter can impede one's quality of life, especially if one's bedroom or kitchen are so full of items that tables and appliances and beds can't be used for their intended purpose.
—Daryl Austin, USA TODAY, 25 Apr. 2024
Ditch the dead weight and clutter, and clear a passage forward.
—Eugenia Last, The Mercury News, 26 Mar. 2024
Part of Biden's problem is that his policies have yet to break through the daily clutter of life.
—TIME, 4 Mar. 2024
Robot vacuums are great for maintaining dust-free floors, especially in homes with hard flooring or low-pile carpets and in rooms with minimal clutter.
—Madison Yauger, Peoplemag, 1 Mar. 2024
The clutter engulfs a car parked in the driveway, and even blocks the front door.
—Pilar Arias, Fox News, 3 Apr. 2024
There's also a lot of clutter in an Echo Show slideshow that you can get rid of.
—Nena Farrell, WIRED, 29 Mar. 2024
If dust mites are the problem, remove clutter and items that collect dust in the home and wash sheets, pillowcases and blankets at least once a week.
—Katia Hetter, CNN, 27 Mar. 2024
Boxes of blank ammunition were piled high on shelves, guns were leaned against the wall, and loose rounds were scattered on tables among tools and other clutter.
—Gene Maddaus, Variety, 4 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'clutter.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near clutter
Cite this Entry
“Clutter.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/clutter. Accessed 2 May. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
clutter
1 of 2 verb
clut·ter
ˈklət-ər 
: to fill or cover with a disorderly scattering of things
clutter up a room
clutter
2 of 2 noun
: a crowded or confused collection
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