Littered With: Standard Pattern
Littered With: Standard Pattern records a directly documented English construction and keeps guidance bounded to the evidenced pattern rather than turning one attested complement into a universal prohibition.
Use “littered with” when a place, document, or other object contains a lot of something, often in an untidy or undesirable way.
Key details
Choose the right form
| Meaning / situation | Form / construction | Decision |
|---|---|---|
| place/object contains many scattered items | be littered with + noun | Use for physical abundance, often untidy. |
| text/situation contains many unwanted features | be littered with + noun | Use figuratively for repeated undesirable features. |
Quick tests
Meaning / construction test
Do you mean that something contains many scattered or repeated instances of another thing?
If yes: Use “littered with.”
If no: If you mean the act of dropping rubbish, use the separate verb construction appropriate to that action.
Examples
The beach was littered with plastic bottles.
The phrase describes many scattered physical items.
The draft was littered with typos.
The phrase works figuratively for repeated flaws.
The road was littered with fallen branches.
The complement names what is spread across the road.
Further guidance
Construction
Use “littered with” when a place, document, or other object contains a lot of something, often in an untidy or undesirable way.
Style Boundary
Cambridge directly documents “be littered with something.” Keep the figurative abundance sense distinct from the separate act of dropping rubbish in a public place.
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
- be littered with something — Cambridge Dictionary (opens in a new tab)Cambridge University Press · Cambridge dictionary entry directly documenting be littered with something for a place, document, or object containing a lot of something.