cluck

1 of 2

verb

ˈklək 

clucked; clucking; clucks

intransitive verb

1

: to make a cluck

2

: to make a clicking sound with the tongue

3

: to express interest or concern

critics clucked over the new developments

transitive verb

1

: to call with a cluck

2

: to express with interest or concern

cluck

2 of 2

noun

1

: the characteristic sound made by a hen especially in calling her chicks

2

: a stupid or naive person

a dumb cluck

Synonyms of cluck

Noun

• idiot
• moron
• stupid
• fool
• mutt

Examples of cluck in a Sentence

Verb

The hen clucked at her chicks.

The driver clucked at the horses to get them moving.

Commentators have been clucking over his lack of experience.

Noun

Don't be such a dumb cluck.

stuck with a bunch of clucks on an extended bus tour

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

That’s cold enough to halt the steady bacterial breakdown that occurs in a regular freezer kept at, say, zero degrees Fahrenheit, but not cold enough to suppress my anguish at the prospect of eating a chicken that stopped clucking in 2011. —Cree Lefavour, New Yorker, 7 Mar. 2026

Inside the Georgia State University Gerontology Institute, a group of graduate nursing students cluck like chickens, pretend to build LEGO sets and react to imaginary scenarios. —Brian Unger, CBS News, 5 Mar. 2026

Noun

Chickens cluck as students rush to collect eggs. —Alexa Liacko, CBS News, 23 Feb. 2026

The loneliness must’ve broken our poor Mister Killer, the sailors would cluck over his body. —Jonathan Miles, Harpers Magazine, 27 Jan. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Verb

imitative

First Known Use

Verb

15th century, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1

Noun

1697, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for cluck

• chuck
• duck
• huck
• luck
• muck
• pluck
• puck
• ruck
• schmuck
• shuck
• snuck
• struck

Kids Definition

cluck

noun

ˈklək

: the call of a hen especially to her chicks

cluck verb