Noun
We decided to pick up the litter in the park.
Her desk was covered with a litter of legal documents. Verb
Paper and popcorn littered the streets after the parade.
a desk littered with old letters and bills
It is illegal to litter.
He had to pay a fine for littering.
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Environmental Management: Keep your lawn well-maintained by mowing regularly and removing leaf litter, tall grass and brush piles where ticks may hide.—Tiffany Acosta, The Arizona Republic, 18 June 2024 Consumers Union suspects that bird flu may have spread to cows because they’re routinely fed chicken litter — the detritus that accumulates on the floor of chicken farms.—Heather Moore, The Mercury News, 28 May 2024
Verb
The proceedings are secret, and critics say the department’s history is littered with cases of problem officers who’ve kept their jobs and continued collecting paychecks despite evidence of misconduct that undermines their credibility and precludes them from doing even basic police work.—Libor Jany, Los Angeles Times, 19 June 2024 Recent accounts from hikers on social media indicate trails are littered with garbage, including bathroom tissue, plastic bottles and fuel canisters.—CBS News, 14 June 2024 See all Example Sentences for litter
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'litter.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Noun and Verb
Middle English, from Anglo-French litere, from lit bed, from Latin lectus — more at lie
Share