What does "litter" mean?
Straw, grass, and similar loose material used as bedding for people or animals.
Litter
/ˈlɪt.ɚ/ adj, noun, verb
adj, noun, verb ·Common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Straw, grass, and similar loose material used as bedding for people or animals.
- Grammar: litter is listed as adj, noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: air mattress, army, arsy-varsiness, be confined.
- Useful contrasts: bare ground, clean, clean surface.
- Usage evidence: These days you can't walk down the street without seeing people dropping litter.
How to use "litter"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "litter" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "litter" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "litter" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "litter" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "litter" is acting as adj, noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "air mattress" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "litter", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Straw, grass, and similar loose material used as bedding for people or animals. uncountable
"Quen he had made me hale and fere"
- 2 material used to provide a bed for animals wordnet
- 3 Straw, grass, and similar loose material used as bedding for people or animals.; A bed, especially a pile of straw (sometimes also with blankets) used as a bed. countable, obsolete
"Near-synonyms: pallet, straw bed, hay bed (all broadly synonymous)"
- 4 conveyance consisting of a chair or bed carried on two poles by bearers wordnet
- 5 Straw, grass, and similar loose material used as bedding for people or animals.; Animal bedding together with its dung. uncountable
"Silkworms... must be well cleansed from the litter."
Show 12 more definitions
- 6 the offspring at one birth of a multiparous mammal wordnet
- 7 A mobile bed or couch transported upon or suspended from poles placed over human shoulders or animal backs. countable
"... In a lytter made tho full royall..."
- 8 rubbish carelessly dropped or left about (especially in public places) wordnet
- 9 A mobile bed or couch transported upon or suspended from poles placed over human shoulders or animal backs.; Synonym of stretcher, such a vehicle used for transporting the sick and injured, inclusive of designs carried in the hand. countable
"He ordeyned lyttyers for the wounded knyghtes."
- 10 A mobile bed or couch transported upon or suspended from poles placed over human shoulders or animal backs.; Any of the other similar conveyances, such as sedan chairs, hammock litters, and the like. broadly, countable
"When they went out, they sat in litters, which were curtained."
- 11 Synonym of straw, grass, etc. more generally, particularly in plaster, thatch, and mulch. obsolete, uncountable
- 12 An act of giving birth to a number of live young at the same time. countable, obsolete
"Let new planted Elms be kept moist by frequent refreſhings upon ſome half-rotten Fern, or Litter laid about the foot of the ſtem..."
- 13 The whole group of live young born at the same time, typically in reference to mammals or (figurative, derogatory) unpleasant people or objects. collective, countable
"A Wolf came to a Sow, and very Kindly Offer'd to take care of her Litter."
- 14 Waste or debris, originally any mess but now particularly trash left or thrown on the ground. uncountable
"Near-synonyms: garbage; see also Thesaurus:trash"
- 15 A bed, a substrate formed from loose materials. countable, uncommon
"Having first made a litter of shingles, planks or billets, with a layer of charcoal powder several inches in thickness..."
- 16 The layer of fallen leaves and other loose organic material on the ground in a forest. uncountable
"Litter, that portion of the forest floor which is not in an advanced state of decomposition."
- 17 Fuller's earth, clay pellets, wood chips, or other similar loose absorbent materials used for the waste of pet animals. uncountable
"Change the cat litter fer chrissakes. This place reeks."
Verb
- 1 To drop or throw trash without properly disposing of it (as discarding in public areas rather than trash receptacles). intransitive
"By tossing the bottle out the window, he was littering."
- 2 give birth to a litter of animals wordnet
- 3 To scatter carelessly about. transitive
- 4 make a place messy by strewing garbage around wordnet
- 5 To strew (a place) with scattered articles. transitive
"Their Clamour, 'lighting from their Chairs, / Grew lowder, all the way up Stairs; / At Entrance louder, where they found, / The Room with Volumes litter'd round; [...]"
Show 5 more definitions
- 6 strew wordnet
- 7 To give birth to, in the manner of animals. transitive
"We might conceive that dogs were created blind, because we observe they were littered so with us."
- 8 To produce a litter of young. intransitive
"A desert […] where the she-wolf still littered."
- 9 To supply (cattle etc.) with litter; to cover with litter, as the floor of a stall. transitive
"Tell them how they litter their jades."
- 10 To be supplied with litter as bedding; to sleep or make one's bed in litter. intransitive
"The inn where he and his horse litter'd."
Adjective
- 1 comparative form of lit: more lit comparative, form-of
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
"These days you can't walk down the street without seeing people dropping litter."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "litter"?
Common synonyms include: air mattress, army, arsy-varsiness, be confined, bear, bear a child.
How do you use "litter" in a sentence?
These days you can't walk down the street without seeing people dropping litter.
How do you pronounce "litter"?
Pronounced /ˈlɪt.ɚ/.
Etymology
From Middle English litere, lytere, etc., from Anglo-Norman litere, litiere, etc., from Old French litiere (“bedding; bed of loose straw; litter”), from Late Latin lectuāria (“bedding; blankets”), from Latin lectus (“bed; couch”) + -āria (“forming related nouns”), from Proto-Italic *lektos (“[thing] lain upon”), from *leɣō (“to lie down”), from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ-. Cognate with French lit and litière.