glut

verb \ ˈglət \

|Updated on: 22 Jun 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

The opening of a number of big hotels in Stockholm last year, including Nordic Choice Hotels’ At Six and Scandic’s Downtown Camper, caused a supply glut in the Swedish capital.

— niklas magnusson, Bloomberg.com, "Sweden Is Expecting a Tourism Boom," 18 June 2018
Oregon and California have such a glut that sellers are slashing prices.

— leonardo haberkorn, Fox News, "Uruguay struggling to meet demand for legal marijuana," 13 June 2018
Oregon and California have such a glut that sellers are slashing prices.

— Washington Post, "Uruguay struggling to meet demand for legal marijuana," 13 June 2018
The deal, which is set to expire at the end of this year, has propped up prices by alleviating a global supply glut.

— amrith ramkumar, WSJ, "Oil Edges Up Amid Supply Jitters in Iran, Venezuela," 7 June 2018
With Ryan Braun and Santana still in the picture and Keon Broxton and Brett Phillips also vying for spots, the Brewers suddenly had a glut of outfielders.

— todd rosiak, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "After breakout season, Domingo Santana still searching for his power at the plate," 7 June 2018
Food cart pods sprung out of the Great Recession as a thriving food scene combined with a glut of underused parking.

— OregonLive.com, "Nong's Khao Man Gai opening new downtown Portland restaurant this Sunday," 29 Mar. 2018
Processing cheese was a good way to make food for soldiers at war, to turn safe but not-as-good-as-standard cheese into edible food, and to save producers when there was a glut in the market and too much cheese to sell.

— gordon edgar, Smithsonian, "A Brief History of America’s Appetite for Macaroni and Cheese," 30 May 2018
Matt Freund said there has been a glut of U.S. produced milk on the market for the past three years, in large part because of the loss of international customers like Mexico and increased milk production in nations around the world.

— gregory b. hladky, courant.com, "State Restores $1.4 Million In Subsidies For Dairy Farmers," 29 May 2018