crowd
/kraʊd
/noun
1A large number of people gathered together in a disorganized or unruly way: a huge crowd gathered in the street outside...
- Soldiers were positioned at strategic points in the city and at election rallies where huge crowds gathered.
- Huge crowds gathered to witness a host of snakes on St Patrick's Day, not all of them were non-venomous.
- The news was immediately announced to huge crowds gathered in the famous square in Rome.
Synonyms
throng, horde, mob, rabble, large number, mass, multitude, host, army, herd, flock, drove, swarm, sea, stream, troupe, pack, press, crush, flood, collection, company, gathering, assembly, assemblage, array, congregation, convention, concourse
informal gaggle
British informal shower
archaic rout
1.1An audience, especially one at a sporting event: they played before a 25,000 crowd [as modifier]: a match marred by crowd trouble...
- Yesterday drew the largest crowd of the three-day event, 55,000 people descending on the site for the final day.
- Do you recall the feelings you experienced as a member of a crowd at a sporting event, a music concert, or a political rally?
- A large crowd of spectators attended and thoroughly enjoyed horses and riders being put through their paces.
Synonyms
audience, spectators, watchers, listeners, viewers, onlookers, patrons, house, gallery, stalls;
turnout, attendance, gate;
congregation
informal punters
1.2 informal, often derogatory A group of people who are linked by a common interest or activity: I’ve broken away from that whole junkie crowd...
- The programme that drew the glamour-struck crowd was the weakest link in the cultural show.
- The museum consistently draws a crowd interested in connecting art and philosophy through lifelong learning.
- An even more interesting thing is the crowd's reaction to the fight.
Synonyms
set, group, band, circle, company, fraternity, clique, coterie;
camp, league, faction
informal lot, gang, bunch, pack, crew, posse, tribe
rare sodality, confraternity
1.3 (the crowd) The mass or multitude of ordinary people: you have to set yourself apart from the crowd free-thinkers who don’t follow the crowd he’d become just another face in the crowd...
- How do you stand out from the crowd when the crowd is among the loudest, wildest concentrations of extrovert party animals on the face of the Earth?
- As with most things, I'm not interested in following the crowd or doing the same things as other people.
- What is striking about the book is where it did not follow the crowd.
Synonyms
majority, multitude, common people, populace, general public, mob, masses, riff-raff, proletariat, rank and file, the commonality, the hoi polloi, the canaille, the great unwashed
informal the proles, the plebs
1.4A large number of things regarded collectively: the crowd of tall buildings...
- The band doesn't really turn in a single bad song here, though a few stand especially tall above the crowd.
verb [with object]
1(Of a number of people) fill (a space) almost completely, leaving little or no room for movement: the dance floor was crowded with revellers...
- This was a very close and exciting game with a large number of supporters crowding the field to cheer on their teams.
- York has also the tourist network to deal with the massive influx in numbers crowding the city's hotels.
- In the center of the small bedroom is a double bed draped with handmade quilts, and the small group of women crowds the narrow spaces surrounding it.
Synonyms
throng, pack, jam, cram, fill, overfill, congest, pervade, occupy all of
packed, congested, crushed, cramped, overcrowded, full, filled to capacity, full to bursting, overfull, overflowing, teeming, swarming, thronged, populous, overpopulated, overpeopled, busy;
North American mobbed
informal stuffed, jam-packed, chock-a-block, chock-full, bursting at the seams, bulging at the seams, full to the gunwales, wall-to-wall
British informal like Piccadilly Circus
Australian/New Zealand informal chocker
1.1 [no object] (crowd into) (Of a number of people) move into (a restricted space): they crowded into the cockpit...
- Scores of people, including some from the dress circle, left their seats and crowded into the space at the front of the stage where they danced the night away.
- Not wanting to be completely outdone, the men hurried uneasily after her and crowded into the cramped space of the dank cave.
- We crowded into the theatre space and took a place on the concrete floor, crouching in the darkness in anticipation.
Synonyms
surge, push one's way, shove, push, thrust forward, jostle, elbow, elbow one's way, shoulder, nudge, bulldoze;
squeeze, pile, pack, jam, cram
1.2 [no object] (crowd round) (Of a group of people) form a tightly packed mass around: photographers crowded round him...
- The idol was, and is, annually dragged forth in procession on a monstrous car, and as masses of excited pilgrims crowded round to drag or accompany it, accidents occurred.
- During the interval, the audience trickles out of the capsule into the vast darkness of the encompassing Exchange hall, crowding round the various bars for drinks.
- ‘We had a really good turnout, with lots of people crowding round the cars and getting some ideas,’ she said.
Synonyms
cluster, gather, flock, swarm, throng, huddle, assemble, concentrate, congregate, come together, collect, amass, accumulate
rare foregather
2Move too close to (someone): don’t crowd her, she needs air...
- Because he's a cat everyone intrinsically likes him, but he doesn't really like people crowding him.
- She had chosen not to live in California so she could be her own person and avoid crowding him.
- It stands to reason that when you're waiting to use a cash machine, try not to crowd the person who's already using it.
2.1 [no object] (crowd in on) Overwhelm and preoccupy (someone): as demands crowd in on you it becomes difficult to keep things in perspective...
- The demands of his latest job have crowded in on his social life to the extent he has still to find time for a fishing trip to Inverness.
- There's no way that the players or management staff, or those who still man the offices and shop, are immune to the confusion crowding in on their place of work.
- The artist making the colourful beads and ornaments from polymer clay has people crowding in on her so much that it looks as if the table might tip.
3 (crowd someone/thing out) Exclude someone or something by taking their place: rampant plants will crowd out the less vigorous...
- However, this vision will not be achieved if public health targets are crowded out by hospital waiting lists.
- Countries like Sudan are crowded out of the sugar market in Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
- However this game can be tricky at the best of times and lo an behold the favourite was crowded out at this stage being put back to near last.
Phrases
stand out from the crowd
Origin
Old English crūdan 'press, hasten', of Germanic origin; related to Dutch kruien 'push in a wheelbarrow'. In Middle English the senses 'move by pushing' and 'push one's way' arose, leading to the sense 'congregate', and hence (mid 16th century) to the noun.
Old English crūdan meant ‘to press, hasten’. In Middle English the senses ‘move by pushing’ and ‘push one's way’ arose, leading to the sense ‘congregate’, and hence (mid 16th century) to the noun.