Clump Meaning
/klʌmp/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA cluster or lump; an unshaped piece or mass.
nounA thick group or bunch, especially of bushes or hair.
Sentence Examples
At the top, there was a clump of trees.
Benedito raised an eyebrow as his billy goat sniffed curiously at a clump of rocks.
CEFR Practice Quiz
A large ____ of wet dirt fell from his boot onto the clean floor.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We found a large ____ of bushes growing at the end of the street.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English clompe, from Old English clymppe, a variant of clympre (“a lump or mass of metal”), from Proto-Germanic *klumpô (“mass, lump, clump; clasp”), from Proto-Indo-European *glembʰ- (“lump, clamp”). Alternatively, possibly from Middle Dutch clompe or Middle Low German klumpe (compare German Klumpen). Doublet of klomp. Cognates include Danish klump (probably from Low German as well). Compare Norwegian Bokmål klump.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"There are suitable clumps of gorse a little way back, sir. I anticipate that you would be quite safe there, or I would not suggest it, sir."
— 1927, Ernest Bramah, Max Carrados Mysteries:
"clump of trees"
— 1954, Lucian Hobart Ryland (translator), Adelaide of Brunswick (originally by Marquis de Sade)
"She [Miss Climpson] asks questions which a young man could not put without a blush. She is the angel that rushes in where fools get a clump on the head."
— 1927, Dorothy L. Sayers, Unnatural Death:
"Thus, the myths of cinema and syndicated cartoon have served to unite the diverse races far more than the clump of the cricket-ball and the clipped rebukes and laudations of their masters."
— 1956, Anthony Burgess, Time for a Tiger (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 37:
"clump-burned bricks"
— 1837, The Magazine of Domestic Economy:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
A large ____ of wet dirt fell from his boot onto the clean floor.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We found a large ____ of bushes growing at the end of the street.