Cluster vs. Class

A group or bunch of several discrete items that are close to each other.

Example: ‘a cluster of islands’; ‘A cluster of flowers grew in the pot.’; ‘A leukemia cluster has developed in the town.’;

A number of individuals grouped together or collected in one place; a crowd; a mob.

(astronomy) A group of galaxies or stars that appear near each other.

Example: ‘The Pleiades cluster contains seven bright stars.’;

A sequence of two or more words that occur in language with high frequency but are not idiomatic; a chunk, bundle, or lexical bundle.

Example: ‘examples of clusters would include "in accordance with", "the results of" and "so far"’;

(music) A secundal chord of three or more notes.

(phonetics) A group of consonants.

Example: ‘The word "scrub" begins with a cluster of three consonants.’;

(computing) A group of computers that work together.

(computing) A logical data storage unit containing one or more physical sectors (see block).

(statistics) A significant subset within a population.

(military) Set of bombs or mines.

(army) A small metal design that indicates that a medal has been awarded to the same person before.

(slang) Euphemism of clusterfuck.

(chemistry) An ensemble of bound atoms or molecules, intermediate in size between a molecule and a bulk solid.

(intransitive) To form a cluster or group.

Example: ‘The children clustered around the puppy.’;

(transitive) To collect into clusters.

(transitive) To cover with clusters.

A number of things of the same kind growing together; a bunch.

Example: ‘Her deeds were like great clusters of ripe grapes,Which load the bunches of the fruitful vine.’;

A number of similar things collected together or lying contiguous; a group; as, a cluster of islands.

A number of individuals grouped together or collected in one place; a crowd; a mob.

Example: ‘As bees . . . Pour forth their populous youth about the hiveIn clusters.’; ‘We loved him; but, like beastsAnd cowardly nobles, gave way unto your clusters,Who did hoot him out o' the city.’;

To grow in clusters or assemble in groups; to gather or unite in a cluster or clusters.

Example: ‘His sunny hairCluster'd about his temples, like a god's.’; ‘The princes of the country clustering together.’;

To collect into a cluster or clusters; to gather into a bunch or close body.

Example: ‘Not less the bee would range her cells, . . . The foxglove cluster dappled bells.’; ‘Or from the forest falls the clustered snow.’;

a grouping of a number of similar things;

Example: ‘a bunch of trees’; ‘a cluster of admirers’;

come together as in a cluster or flock;

Example: ‘The poets constellate in this town every summer’;

gather or cause to gather into a cluster;

Example: ‘She bunched her fingers into a fist’; ‘The students bunched up at the registration desk’;

(countable) A group, collection, category or set sharing characteristics or attributes.

Example: ‘The new Ford Fiesta is set to be best in the 'small family' class.’; ‘That is one class-A heifer you got there, sonny.’; ‘Often used to imply membership of a large class.’; ‘This word has a whole class of metaphoric extensions.’;

A social grouping, based on job, wealth, etc. In Britain, society is commonly split into three main classes; upper class, middle class and working class.

(uncountable) The division of society into classes.

Example: ‘Jane Austen's works deal with class in 18th-century England.’;

(uncountable) Admirable behavior; elegance.

Example: ‘Apologizing for losing your temper, even though you were badly provoked, showed real class.’;

A group of students in a regularly scheduled meeting with a teacher.

Example: ‘The class was noisy, but the teacher was able to get their attention with a story.’;

A series of lessons covering a single subject.

Example: ‘I took the cooking class for enjoyment, but I also learned a lot.’;

(countable) A group of students who commenced or completed their education during a particular year. A school class.

Example: ‘The class of 1982 was particularly noteworthy.’;

(countable) A category of seats in an airplane, train or other means of mass transportation.

Example: ‘I used to fly business class, but now my company can only afford economy.’;

A rank in the classification of organisms, below phylum and above order; a taxon of that rank.

Example: ‘Magnolias belong to the class Magnoliopsida.’;

Best of its kind.

Example: ‘It is the class of Italian bottled waters.’;

(statistics) A grouping of data values in an interval, often used for computation of a frequency distribution.

(set theory) A collection of sets definable by a shared property.

Example: ‘The class of all sets is not a set.’; ‘Every set is a class, but classes are not generally sets. A class that is not a set is called a proper class.’;

(military) A group of people subject to be conscripted in the same military draft, or more narrowly those persons actually conscripted in a particular draft.

A set of objects having the same behavior (but typically differing in state), or a template defining such a set.

Example: ‘an abstract base class’;

One of the sections into which a Methodist church or congregation is divided, supervised by a class leader.

(transitive) To assign to a class; to classify.

Example: ‘I would class this with most of the other mediocre works of the period.’;

(intransitive) To be grouped or classed.

(transitive) To divide into classes, as students; to form into, or place in, a class or classes.

great; fabulous

A group of individuals ranked together as possessing common characteristics; as, the different classes of society; the educated class; the lower classes.

A number of students in a school or college, of the same standing, or pursuing the same studies.

A comprehensive division of animate or inanimate objects, grouped together on account of their common characteristics, in any classification in natural science, and subdivided into orders, families, tribes, genera, etc.

A set; a kind or description, species or variety.

Example: ‘She had lost one class energies.’;

One of the sections into which a church or congregation is divided, and which is under the supervision of a class leader.

One session of formal instruction in which one or more teachers instruct a group on some subject. The class may be one of a course of classes, or a single special session.

A high degree of elegance, in dress or behavior; the quality of bearing oneself with dignity, grace, and social adeptness.

To arrange in classes; to classify or refer to some class; as, to class words or passages.

To divide into classes, as students; to form into, or place in, a class or classes.

To be grouped or classed.

Example: ‘The genus or family under which it classes.’;

exhibiting refinement and high character; as, a class act. Opposite of low-class

people having the same social or economic status;

Example: ‘the working class’; ‘an emerging professional class’;

a body of students who are taught together;

Example: ‘early morning classes are always sleepy’;

education imparted in a series of lessons or class meetings;

Example: ‘he took a course in basket weaving’; ‘flirting is not unknown in college classes’;

a collection of things sharing a common attribute;

Example: ‘there are two classes of detergents’;

a body of students who graduate together;

Example: ‘the class of '97’; ‘she was in my year at Hoehandle High’;

a league ranked by quality;

Example: ‘he played baseball in class D for two years’; ‘Princeton is in the NCAA Division 1-AA’;

elegance in dress or behavior;

Example: ‘she has a lot of class’;

(biology) a taxonomic group containing one or more orders

arrange or order by classes or categories;

Example: ‘How would you classify these pottery shards--are they prehistoric?’;