as in messy
lacking in order, neatness, and often cleanliness
is there any wonder that you can never find anything in your littered desk?
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Recent Examples of littered
Scarlett Harris, Time, 9 Oct. 2025
Cigarette butts are the most littered item on the planet.
—Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 16 Aug. 2025
Adjective
The series does not touch on the tabloid attention that followed the Beckhams in 2004, when it was alleged that David had an affair with his personal assistant, Rebecca Loos, and the many further accusations of cheating that littered gossip columns after.
—Scarlett Harris, Time, 9 Oct. 2025
Cigarette butts are the most littered item on the planet.
—Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 16 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for littered
Adjective
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How does Carolyn’s hair actually look better a little messy?—
Emma Specter,
Vogue,
19 Feb. 2026
-
Saturday is expected to be the nicest day of the week, with mostly sunny skies and a high around 51, but Sunday could be messy.—
Baltimore Sun staff,
Baltimore Sun,
19 Feb. 2026
Verb
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This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a USA Today editor.—
USA Today staff,
USA Today,
19 Feb. 2026
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Wind and solar generated 30% of the European Union’s electricity in 2025, overtaking fossil fuels for the first time.—
Laura Paddison,
CNN Money,
19 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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As temperature rises, these vibrations intensify, creating a more chaotic, more resistant barrier that paradoxically hardens the metal’s surface against high-speed stress.—
Mrigakshi Dixit,
Interesting Engineering,
16 Feb. 2026
-
While some of Griffin’s jokes may be a product of their time, My Life on the D-List is, all the same, a fascinating snapshot of early aughts celebrity culture in all its chaotic messiness.—
Kevin Jacobsen,
Entertainment Weekly,
16 Feb. 2026
Verb
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If ‘Oxen’ occupies a region of Ulysses where Joyce’s exquisite ear for memorably musical sentences (‘Mild fire of wine kindled his veins’) takes a back seat to the leaden hum of meta-literature, that is no reason not to be awed by his chutzpah.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
5 Feb. 2026
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Watson had kindled a social media friendship with the NBA star and received an invite to one of his exclusive pickup runs.—
Bennett Durando,
Denver Post,
14 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Developed by Penn Engineers, the system could improve safety of robots operating in cluttered indoor settings like warehouses and factories.—
Prabhat Ranjan Mishra,
Interesting Engineering,
16 Feb. 2026
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Yes, your car is going to get dirty and cluttered on a long drive, but starting with a clean slate will make the aftermath much easier to deal with later.—
Mary Shannon Wells,
Southern Living,
12 Feb. 2026
Verb
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The widespread interest in the Guthrie case has spawned endless speculation and conspiracy theories in the press and on social media.—
Timothy Nerozzi,
The Washington Examiner,
16 Feb. 2026
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Another popular meme was spawned by an interview where Grande choked up, and took a long pause, after she was asked how working with Erivo has changed her.—
Brendan Morrow,
USA Today,
16 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Weekly, Weber and Finger have kept reliable and amusing tabs on the ever-expanding universe of Whos and dissected the increasingly jumbled celebrity hierarchy.—
Nicholas Quah,
Vulture,
13 Feb. 2026
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Getty Images The variability of a football club’s circumstances from one season to the next — the impact of promotion and relegation, the jumbled mass of player contracts on their books — means no two teams ever approach a transfer window from the same vantage point.—
Chris Weatherspoon,
New York Times,
9 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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So open to the skies, and filthy.—
Lesley Stahl,
CBS News,
16 Feb. 2026
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This neighborhood, peopled almost entirely by the people who claim to have been driven from Poland and Russia, is the eyesore of New York and perhaps the filthiest place on the western continent.—
Alexandra Schwartz,
New Yorker,
9 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Littered.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/littered. Accessed 22 Feb. 2026.
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