glut

verb \ ˈglət \

|Updated on: 17 Aug 2018

Tip: Synonym Guide

Definition of glut

glutted; glutting

transitive verb

1 : to fill especially with food to satiety

glutted themselves at the restaurant buffet

2 : to flood (the market) with goods so that supply exceeds demand

The market is glutted with oil.

intransitive verb

: to eat gluttonously

Recent Examples of glut from the Web

With so many new cars rolling out of dealerships lots and instantly becoming used cars, the secondary market is glutted and the pace of depreciation is rapidly accelerating.

— kyle stock, chicagotribune.com, "Car values dropping, underwater loans rising," 21 Aug. 2017
Start in high plank position with your hands stacked underneath your shoulders, your core, quads, and glutes engaged, back flat, and your body in one straight line.

— leah prinzivalli, SELF, "How Jennifer Lopez's Trainer, David Kirsch, Uses the TRX to Build Core Strength," 27 Apr. 2018
Launching a new luxury condo tower at a time when the market is glutted with unsold inventory might seem like risky business.

— rene rodriguez, miamiherald, "Real estate developers ran out of waterfront property. Now they might want to buy yours | Miami Herald," 6 Mar. 2018
But the market is still glutted by too much supply, which caused the average luxury sales price to fall 6.3 percent in 2017, according to Mansion Global.

— rene rodriguez, miamiherald, "Bitcoin is booming in Miami. But can you buy a house with it?," 26 Jan. 2018
The new wave of crude has again glutted the market.

— bradley olson and alison sider, WSJ, "Wall Street Cash Pumps Up Oil Production Even as Prices Sag," 7 July 2017
When the shale drilling revolution glutted the market with natural gas beginning in 2008, an abundance of power plants were already on hand to put it to use.

— jonathan thompson, New Republic, "Trump Is Big Coal’s Last Gasp," 21 Sep. 2017
In a region glutted with ex-NYC chefs and farmhouse-chic dining spots, Lil’ Deb’s stands apart, both figuratively and literally.

— amanda shapiro, Bon Appetit, "This Restaurant Is Basically an Art Installation with Knockout Food," 11 Sep. 2017
Because global oil and gas markets are already glutted, moves by the Trump administration to boost drilling and exports can only play a marginal role.

— georgi kantchev and lynn cook, WSJ, "U.S. Boost to Oil Drilling Will Barely Dent Russia’s Energy Monolith," 13 July 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'glut.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of glut

Middle English glouten, probably from Anglo-French glutir to swallow, from Latin gluttire — more at glutton

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 14th century

in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

See Words from the same year

Synonym Discussion of glut

satiate, sate, surfeit, cloy, pall, glut, gorge mean to fill to repletion. satiate and sate may sometimes imply only complete satisfaction but more often suggest repletion that has destroyed interest or desire.

- years of globe-trotting had satiated their interest in travel
- readers were sated with sensationalistic stories

surfeit implies a nauseating repletion.

- surfeited themselves with junk food

cloy stresses the disgust or boredom resulting from such surfeiting.

- sentimental pictures that cloy after a while

pall emphasizes the loss of ability to stimulate interest or appetite.

- a life of leisure eventually begins to pall

glut implies excess in feeding or supplying.

- a market glutted with diet books

gorge suggests glutting to the point of bursting or choking.

- gorged themselves with chocolate

glut

noun

Definition of glut

1 : an excessive quantity : oversupply

a glut of oil on the market

2 archaic : the act or process of glutting

See glut defined for English-language learners

Recent Examples of glut from the Web

Reed’s chances of returning to Phoenix may be compromised by the glut of wings on the roster, particularly if the Suns plan to swing Mikal Bridges and Josh Jackson to the two-guard spot on occasion.

— scott bordow, azcentral, "Marvin Bagley III learning ups and downs of NBA," 8 July 2018
The startup’s goal is to make city-to-city travel easier for users and take advantage of the glut of charter vehicles that sit underused in parking lots most of the time, Nestler said in January.

— polina marinova, Fortune, "Term Sheet -- Friday, July 6," 6 July 2018
The Heat have a glut of good players, but no truly outstanding ones.

— ira winderman, Sun-Sentinel.com, "ASK IRA: Should Heat offseason goal be to thin the rotation?," 29 June 2018
Elsewhere, though, predictions of a luxury-housing glut have not yet come to fruition.

— The Economist, "Why Arab states have lots of expensive villas," 14 June 2018
Proponents of the initiative stopped paying signature-gatherers for a couple months earlier this year due to financial problems caused in part by a glut of statewide initiatives that gatherers were collecting.

— j. harry jones, sandiegouniontribune.com, "Backcountry development initiative faces signature deadline," 20 May 2018
Thankfully, the primaries Tuesday showed that being Trumpier than Trump is not a winning strategy nor will locals be swayed by a glut of outside super PAC money.

— gerard baker, WSJ, "The 10-Point.," 10 May 2018
The industry leaders urged Trump to act, saying they had been unfairly hurt by a glut of imports.

— ken thomas and paul wiseman, Houston Chronicle, "Trade war? Trump orders big tariffs on steel, aluminum," 1 Mar. 2018
The staple of this argument seems to be that against both Uruguay and the Red Devils, Les Blues out-thought and out-muscled their opponents with defensive fortitude, whilst retaining the attacking bite that their glut of forwards portend to.

— SI.com, "Why Didier Deschamps Is Still a Problem Regardless of Leading France to the World Cup Final," 12 July 2018