clucked; clucking; clucks
1
: to make a cluck
2
: to make a clicking sound with the tongue
3
: to express interest or concern
critics clucked over the new developments
1
: the characteristic sound made by a hen especially in calling her chicks
2
: a stupid or naive person
a dumb cluck
Synonyms
Noun
- airhead
- birdbrain
- blockhead
- bonehead
- bubblehead
- chowderhead
- chucklehead
- clodpoll
- clodpole
- clot [British]
- clunk
- cretin
- cuddy [British dialect]
- cuddie
- deadhead
- dim bulb [slang]
- dimwit
- dip
- dodo
- dolt
- donkey
- doofus [slang]
- dope
- dork [slang]
- dullard
- dum-dum
- dumbbell
- dumbhead
- dummkopf
- dummy
- dunce
- dunderhead
- fathead
- gander
- golem
- goof
- goon
- half-wit
- hammerhead
- hardhead
- idiot
- ignoramus
- imbecile
- jackass
- know-nothing
- knucklehead
- lamebrain
- loggerhead [chiefly dialect]
- loon
- lump
- lunkhead
- meathead
- mome [archaic]
- moron
- mug [chiefly British]
- mutt
- natural
- nimrod [slang]
- nincompoop
- ninny
- ninnyhammer
- nit [chiefly British]
- nitwit
- noddy
- noodle
- numskull
- numbskull
- oaf
- pinhead
- prat [British]
- ratbag [chiefly Australian]
- saphead
- schlub [slang]
- shlub
- schnook [slang]
- simpleton
- stock
- stupe
- stupid
- thickhead
- turkey
- woodenhead
- yahoo
- yo-yo
Examples of cluck in a Sentence
Verb
The hen clucked at her chicks.
The driver clucked at the horses to get them moving.
Commentators have been clucking over his lack of experience.
Noun
Don't be such a dumb cluck.
stuck with a bunch of clucks on an extended bus tour
Recent Examples on the Web
Arthur Allen, CBS News, 29 May 2024
Even a trip to the restroom is a delight, as the sound of chickens clucking in the coop above the bathrooms welcomes you in the door.
—
Amanda Hancock, The Courier-Journal, 19 Feb. 2024
Travel + Leisure Editors, Travel + Leisure, 2 Dec. 2024
Her 8-year-old daughter, wearing pigtails, sucked on a lollipop as the clucks of chickens cut through the quiet of the neighborhood.
1 of 2
In Georgia, agriculture is a $83.6 billion industry that supports more than 323,000 jobs, according to the Georgia Farm Bureau.
—
Tribune News Service, Hartford Courant, 4 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for cluck 
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Verb
Even a peep of news about a new flu pandemic is enough to set scientists clucking about eggs.
—Noun
For me, the Caribbean is the cluck of a rooster during sunrise, a coconut from a roadside truck to quell the afternoon heat.
—Word History
Etymology
Verb
imitative
First Known Use
Verb
15th century, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1
Noun
1703, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Time Traveler
The first known use of cluck was
in the 15th century
Dictionary Entries Near cluck
Cite this Entry
“Cluck.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cluck. Accessed 18 Dec. 2024.
Kids Definition
cluck
nounË?klÉ™k
: the call of a hen especially to her chicks
cluck
verb
More from Merriam-Webster on cluck
Nglish: Translation of cluck for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of cluck for Arabic Speakers
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