Word.ws English Dictionary

clattering

clattering is the present participle and gerund of clatter.

Meaning of clatter

Verb

clatter (third-person singular simple present clatters, present participle clattering, simple past and past participle clattered)

  1. (intransitive) To make a rattling sound.
    • When all the bees are gone to settle, / You clatter still your brazen kettle.1728, Jonathan Swift, “A Dialogue between Mad Mullinix and Timothy”, in Thomas Sheridan, John Nichols, editors, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, […], new edition, volume VII, London: […]...
  2. (intransitive) To chatter noisily or rapidly.
    • But if that I knewe what his name hight, / For clatering of me I would him ſone quight; / For his falſe lying, of that I ſpake never, / I could make him ſhortly repent him forever: […]c. 1515–1516, published 1568, John Skelton, Againſt venemous tongues enpoyſoned with ſclaunder and falſe detractions &c.
  3. (Northern England) To hit; to smack.
    • "I can't watch it because I have to go outside and clatter someone in the nuts!”1988, Harry Enfield, Friday Night Live

See all 7 meanings of clatter

Adjective

clattering (comparative more clattering, superlative most clattering)

  1. In a state or process of being clattered.
    • Do we really need another doe-eyed female singer-songwriter with a penchant for electro-pop? Twenty-two-year-old Louisa Rose Allen, aka Foxes, certainly thinks so. Available as a free download via Neon Gold, her debut single Youth is a monster mix of keening vocals, slow-burn electronics and, by...2011 November 21, Michael Cragg, “New music: Foxes - Home”, in the Guardian

Noun

clattering (plural clatterings)

  1. A noise that clatters.
    • Miss Greta closed her eyes. Quickly, however, did she open them again; for a dull noise, with certain whiskings-about and flutterings, together with low clatterings, approached her ear.1844, Fredrika Bremer, The Neighbours: A Story of Every-day Life, page 59
    • The woodcock, the snipe, and other nocturnal birds were all gone to rest; but the merry songsters of the wood now filled the air with their jubilee; the nutcracker began his monotonous clattering, the chaffinches and the wrens sang high in the sky, the blackcock scolded and blustered loudly, the...1886, Peter Christen Asbjø￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 89

Forms of clattering

Adjective
comparativemore clattering
superlativemost clattering
Noun
pluralclatterings

Words formed from clattering

Questions about clattering

What does clattering mean?
Clattering means in a state or process of being clattered.
What is clattering the present participle and gerund of?
Clattering is the present participle and gerund of clatter.
What part of speech is clattering?
Clattering can be an adjective or a noun.

Words near clattering in the dictionary

  1. clattered
  2. clatterer
  3. clatterers
  4. clatterest
  5. clattereth
  6. clattering
  7. clatteringly
  8. clatterings
  9. clatters
  10. clattersome
  11. clattery

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: clattering (page history and authors); clatter (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “clattering.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/clattering. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.