jumble
/ˈdʒʌmb(ə)l
/noun
1An untidy collection or pile of things: the books were in a chaotic jumble...
- Most had been sketchily catalogued, but many of the boxes seemed to be hastily packed jumbles of everything from cocktail napkins and concert programs to medical reports.
- It was more a small room, and it contained jumbles of clothes.
- They made tracks, piling up the jumble on either side.
Synonyms
untidy heap, confused heap, clutter, muddle, mess, confusion, welter, disarray, disarrangement, tangle, litter;
hodgepodge, hotchpotch, mishmash, miscellany, motley collection, mixture, mixed bag, medley, farrago
informal mash-up
British informal dog's dinner, dog's breakfast
rare gallimaufry, mingle-mangle, congeries, macédoine
1.1 [mass noun] British Articles collected for a jumble sale: we are collecting jumble for charity...
- Fund-raiser Elizabeth Sykes said that while youngsters could collect jumble with their parents, other volunteer helpers now had to undergo a police check.
- Fate intervened in the form of a neighbour collecting jumble who just so happened to be a qualified knitter - and had a whole slew of like-minded friends.
- St Sampsons Social Centre for Old People, in Church Street, was rented out on Mondays to local causes so they could hold table-top fundraising sales of jumble and bric-a-brac.
Synonyms
junk, bric-a-brac, bits and pieces;
British lumber
rare rummage
verb [with object]
Mix up in a confused or untidy way: a drawer full of letters jumbled together...
- But all of it is jumbled together in a way that at the end the reader is left empty, if amused.
- He noticed his sword was leaning on a guardrail instead of being jumbled together with all the rest.
- I'm still mad, and angry, and I'm jumbling things up, but I don't care.
Synonyms
mix up, muddle up, disarrange, disorganize, disorder, confuse, put in disarray, throw into chaos, make a shambles of;
shuffle
Origin
Early 16th century: probably symbolic.