crowd

1 of 3

verb

ˈkrau̇d 

crowded; crowding; crowds

intransitive verb

1

a

: to press on : hurry

The ships crowded northward.

b

: to press close

The players crowded around the coach.

2

: to collect in numbers

Police officers warned people not to crowd.

transitive verb

1

a

: to fill by pressing or thronging together

crowd a room

b

: to press, force, or thrust into a small space

crowded the people into the bus

2

: push, force

—often used with off or out

crowd a person off the sidewalk

3

a

: to urge on

… I crowded him until streams of sweat ran from his beard.

—Jesse H. Stuart

b

: to put on (sail) in excess of the usual for greater speed

4

: to put pressure on

Don't crowd me, I'll pay.

5

: throng, jostle

… changes … crowd each other in a whirl of confusing images when we try to picture this century …

—Nicholas Murray Butler

6

: to press or stand close to

The batter was crowding the plate.

7

: to approach or come close to (an age or amount)

a friend who's crowding 70

… a sedan that crowds $100,000 when all the option boxes have been checked.

—Jeff Sabatini

crowd

2 of 3

noun (1)

1

: a large number of persons especially when collected together : throng

2

a

: the great body of the people : populace

b

: most of one's peers

follow the crowd

3

: a large number of things close together

… I saw a crowd … of golden daffodils …

—William Wordsworth

4

: a group of people having something (such as a habit, interest, or occupation) in common

in with the wrong crowd

the Hollywood crowd

crowd

3 of 3

noun (2)

ˈkrau̇d  ˈkrüd 

1

: an ancient Celtic stringed instrument that is plucked or bowed

called also crwth

2

dialectal, England : violin

Illustration of crowd

• ³crowd 1

Synonyms

Verb

• cram
• crush
• jam
• ram
• sandwich
• shoehorn
• squeeze
• stuff
• wedge

Noun (1)

• army
• bike [chiefly Scottish]
• cram
• crush
• drove
• flock
• herd
• horde
• host
• legion
• mass
• mob
• multitude
• press
• rout
• scrum
• swarm
• throng

Choose the Right Synonym for crowd

crowd, throng, horde, crush, mob mean an assembled multitude.

crowd implies a close gathering and pressing together.

a crowd gathered

throng and horde suggest movement and pushing.

a throng of reporters

a horde of shoppers

crush emphasizes the compactness of the group, the difficulty of individual movement, and the attendant discomfort.

a crush of fans

mob implies a disorderly crowd with the potential for violence.

an angry mob

Examples of crowd in a Sentence

Verb

Boxes crowded the floor of my apartment.

There are too many products crowding the market.

The club has been accused of crowding too many people into too small a space.

By the end of the 10th mile, three bicyclists were crowding the racer in front.

Please move back. You're crowding me.

Noun (1)

a huge crowd of fans was on hand to greet the returning World Series champions

the fashionable crowd at the polo tournament

no national leader was ever more hated by the crowd

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

In an early scene of Bad Boy, an award-winning Israeli drama series that has just arrived on Netflix, Tamara Scheinman opens her front door to find the hallway of her apartment building crowded with police. —Judy Berman, Time, 2 May 2025

It’s been a busy season on Broadway, crowded with big stars, boffo hits — and strong contenders for awards attention. —Gordon Cox, Variety, 1 May 2025

Noun

An estimated 250,000-strong crowd was present at the funeral of Pope Francis on April 26. —Callum Sutherland, Time, 3 May 2025

Image Another photo that appeared inside depicted a large crowd gathered around the smoldering debris. —John Otis, New York Times, 3 May 2025

Word History

Etymology

Verb

Middle English crouden "to push forward, jostle, press, push or drive (something wheeled)," going back to Old English crūdan "to crowd, press (against), press forward (of a ship)," going back to Germanic *krūdan- "to press, push forward" (whence also Middle Dutch crûden "to push, shove, trundle," Norwegian regional kryda (preterit kraud) "to flow together, congregate"), of uncertain origin

Note: Old English crūdan, a Class II strong verb, is attested twice in poetic texts, as crydeþ (third person singular present) and cread (third singular preterit); evidence in other old Germanic languages is lacking. Nominal derivatives *kruda- and *krudan- are evident in Old English lindgecrod "shield-bearing crowd" and lindcroda "shield-press, battle"; the same underlying forms may be evident in Middle Dutch crod "hindrance, bother," Middle High German krot "annoyance, distress," kroten, kröten "to bother, annoy." (Further Frisian and Low German forms are detailed in the Oxford English Dictionary, first edition, s.v. crowd.) See also crud entry 2.

Noun (1)

derivative of crowd entry 1

Noun (2)

Middle English crouþ, croude, borrowed from Middle Welsh crwth "crowd (the instrument), fiddle, hump, humpback, anything round or bulging," going back to Celtic *krutto- "round or bulging object" (whence also, from a feminine derivative *kruttā, Welsh croth "womb, belly"; also Middle Irish crott, cruitt "harp, lyre, hump," Middle Breton courz "female genitals"), probably of expressive origin

Note: The word crotta as the name of a musical instrument was used by the sixth century Latin poet and hymnodist Venantius Fortunatus ("… crotta Britanna canat" - "… may the British crotta sing"). The grounds for the shift from th to d in the English word are uncertain.

First Known Use

Verb

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1a

Noun (1)

1565, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun (2)

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing crowd

• a bad crowd
• crowd around/round
• crowd in
• crowd out
• crowd-pleaser
• crowd surf
• crowd surfer
• crowd surfing
• draw a big/large crowd
• follow the crowd
• go with the crowd
• join the crowd
• just another face in the crowd
• one of the crowd
• playing to the crowd
• stand out from the crowd
• the crowd
• two's company, three's a crowd

Rhymes for crowd

• bowed
• browed
• cloud
• coude
• cowed
• dowd
• loud
• ploughed
• plowed
• proud
• shroud
• sowed

Kids Definition

crowd

1 of 2 verb

ˈkrau̇d 

1

: to press forward or close

crowd into an elevator

2

: to push or press into a small space

crowd coats into a closet

3

: to fill or pack by pressing together

cars crowded the roads

4

: to push or force by or as if by a crowd

crowded me off the sidewalk

crowd

2 of 2 noun

1

: a large number of persons or things crowded or crowding together

2

: the population as a whole : ordinary people

books that appeal to the crowd

3

: a large number of things close together

4

: a group of people having a common interest