noun / verb

jumble

JUHM-buhl/dʒˈʌmbʌl/

A confused mixture, or to mix things without order.

The drawer contains a jumble of cords and small objects.

An open shallow drawer crammed with a disordered mixture of unrelated everyday objects, overlapping at odd angles with tangled cord running among them.

Etymology

The noun names the result of jumbling: mixing things into a confused mass. The verb earlier meant “move confusedly” and may have been coined to suggest the action, on the model of stumble and tumble.

In context

Enhanced Public Domain83:05

I studied everything in a jumble without system without selection chemistry Alchemy history astronomy philosophy

1800s Psychological Audiobook 📖 Venus in Furs — Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

More examples

He jumbled the pages while carrying them upstairs.
Her memories formed a confusing jumble.
The move left our belongings jumbled together.

Forms

jumble · jumbles · jumbled · jumbling

Similar words

mess: Mess broadly means disorder; jumble emphasizes different things mixed together without order.
mix: Mix can be orderly or intentional; jumble suggests confused mixing.