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clut·ter | \ ˈklə-tər 
\
\cluttered; cluttering; clutters
Definition of clutter
(Entry 1 of 2)
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.
clutter
nounDefinition of clutter (Entry 2 of 2)
1a : 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
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Synonyms for clutter
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
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Recent Examples on the Web: Verb Directly across 23 at Belmont Beverage, three cars clutter the small parking lot.
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Tom Noie, The Indianapolis Star, "Noie: Notre Dame Stadium is open again, but it's quiet all around. Too quiet.," 13 Sep. 2020 Lina Krakue, 49, never wanted to clutter her bathroom or dresser with creams or supplements that looked like prescriptions from the doctor.
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Lane Florsheim, WSJ, "Is the Menopause Product Boom Finally Here?," 25 Aug. 2020 Known as the Idul Fitri mudik, the migration usually clutters Indonesia’s roads as millions leave the capital.
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Los Angeles Times, "Dying doctors. Too many coffins. Indonesia late in battle against coronavirus," 24 Apr. 2020 Including people would only have cluttered his compositions.
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Michael Hardy, Wired, "Prophetic Images of an Empty World From Before the Pandemic," 15 Apr. 2020 By the time she was done with my nails, her workspace was cluttered in materials in every shade of neon and pastel possible.
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Devon Abelman, Allure, "Inside the Studio (and Mind) of Unistella’s Park Eunkyung," 14 Apr. 2020 Loose wires tend to clutter up bags, counters, drawers, and desks.
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Popular Science, "The best things to organize your wires," 25 Sep. 2019 Kohl's has helped itself by focusing on keeping stores clutter free with tons of room for social distancing, something analysts say will be crucial for shoppers as stores reopen.
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Phil Wahba, Fortune, "Why the Kohl’s CEO believes stores will still matter post-COVID," 20 May 2020 Inspectors reported that the home‘s interior smelled of urine and that trash cluttered the back and side yards.
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Lyndsay Winkley, San Diego Union-Tribune, "Toxic gas, rodents and bed bugs: Independent living facility operator charged with elder abuse," 12 Sep. 2019 Recent Examples on the Web: Noun Here too the imagery cuts through a clutter of charts and graphs in order to tell an important socio-economic story.
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Popular Science, "Drone surveillance can help hold governments accountable—but it can also oppress us," 21 Sep. 2020 On the top, the tower-clutter summit of Greens Peak can be seen to the west while the diverse mix of forests and open plains of east-central Arizona roll out all around, making the quad-burning hike well worth the effort.
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Mare Czinar, The Arizona Republic, "The views on this AZ hike will take your breath away, if you have any left. It's steep," 17 Sep. 2020 In 1984, to curb the threat of municipal clutter from a proliferation of newspaper vending machines, a suburb of Cleveland passed an ordinance giving the mayor broad discretion on granting permits for them.
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Eric Zorn, chicagotribune.com, "Column: The era of newspaper vending boxes is snapping shut," 11 Sep. 2020 But there was plenty of garden-variety clutter to sift through as well.
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Jennifer Reese, Washington Post, "Jennifer Howard’s ‘Clutter: An Untidy History’ takes Marie Kondo’s message a step further," 10 Sep. 2020 While neatness helps most people focus, clutter stimulates others, Rebecca Renner writes for Nat Geo.
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National Geographic, "The 2 steps to defeat COVID-19," 5 Aug. 2020 Expert home organizers Clea and Joanna help celebrities and everyday clients edit, categorize and contain their clutter to create stunning spaces.
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Nina Zafar, Washington Post, "What to watch on Wednesday: ‘The Social Dilemma’ on Netflix," 9 Sep. 2020 The photos show a clutter-free cabin with a floating infotainment display and VW's ID.Light 30-color ambient light strip, which runs across the dash.
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Roberto Baldwin, Car and Driver, "2021 Volkswagen ID.4 EV Interior Revealed, Looking Uncluttered," 5 Sep. 2020 Featuring seven shoe shelves and extending open shelves with enough room to store fourteen pairs, this 14 Pair Shoe Storage Cabinet is the ultimate in shoe storage and will keep you clutter-free and stress-free with a place for every pair.
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Mark Heim | Mheim@al.com, al, "Wayfair offering up to 65% off on kitchen, bath and storage solutions in home renovation sale," 19 Aug. 2020
See MoreThese example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'clutter.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for clutter
clutter
verbEnglish Language Learners Definition of clutter
(Entry 1 of 2)
: to fill or cover (something) with many things : to fill or cover (something) with clutter
clutter
nounEnglish Language Learners Definition of clutter (Entry 2 of 2)
: a large amount of things that are not arranged in a neat or orderly way : a crowded or disordered collection of things
See the full definition for clutter in the English Language Learners Dictionary
clutter
verbclut·ter | \ ˈklə-tər \
\cluttered; cluttering
Kids Definition of clutter
(Entry 1 of 2)
: to fill or cover with scattered things
clutter
nounKids Definition of clutter (Entry 2 of 2)
: a collection of scattered things
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Time Traveler for clutter
The first known use of clutter was in 1556
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