Clusters

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈklʌstɚz/

Definitions

1. A series of items that are found adjacent to each other in a specific location
2. A group of similar objects or people located near each other in space
3. An arrangement of related elements positioned closely in a small area

Etymology: "Clusters" is simply the plural of "cluster," so the story belongs to the singular. The noun reaches back to Old English "cluster" or "clyster," meaning a bunch, cluster, or branch, and it is related to Dutch "klister," Icelandic "klasi" (a bunch of grapes), and Swedish "kluster." Its deeper roots lie in a Proto-Germanic base meaning "to clump, lump together," which may trace back to a prehistoric root meaning "to ball up" or "to amass." The suffix attached to that base, a Germanic ending that forms nouns for tools or instruments, suggests the word originally named something that gathered things together. The English word is probably a doublet of "clot," meaning the two words descend from the same ancestor but took different paths into the language. Both carried the idea of something compacted into a mass, and that shared sense of lumping together still underlies "cluster" today, whether it describes grapes on a vine, mushrooms growing from one root, or stars packed tightly in a globular group.

Synonyms: groups, bunches, collections, assemblies, gatherings

Antonyms: individuals, singles, solitaires, units, loners