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View synonyms for stammer

stammer

[ stam-er ]

verb (used without object)

  1. to speak with involuntary breaks and pauses, or with spasmodic repetitions of syllables or sounds.

    Synonyms: falter, hesitate, pause



verb (used with object)

  1. to say with a stammer (often followed by out ).

noun

  1. a stammering mode of utterance.
  2. a stammered utterance.

stammer

/ ˈstæmə /

verb

  1. to speak or say (something) in a hesitant way, esp as a result of a speech disorder or through fear, stress, etc


noun

  1. a speech disorder characterized by involuntary repetitions and hesitations

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Derived Forms

  • ˈstammerer, noun
  • ˈstammering, nounadjective
  • ˈstammeringly, adverb

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Other Words From

  • stam·mer·er noun
  • stam·mer·ing·ly adverb
  • un·stam·mer·ing adjective
  • un·stam·mer·ing·ly adverb

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Word History and Origins

Origin of stammer1

First recorded before 1000; Middle English verb stammeren, Old English stamerian (cognate with German stammern ), equivalent to stam “stammering” + -erian -er 6; akin to Old Norse stamma “to stammer,” Gothic stams “stammering”

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Word History and Origins

Origin of stammer1

Old English stamerian ; related to Old Saxon stamarōn , Old High German stamm

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Synonym Study

Stammer, stutter mean to speak with some form of difficulty. Stammer, the general term, suggests a speech disfluency that results in broken or inarticulate sounds and sometimes in complete stoppage of speech; it may be temporary, caused by sudden excitement, confusion, embarrassment, or other emotion, or it may be persistent and require speech therapy for its correction. Stutter, the parallel term preferred in technical usage, designates a broad range of speech production disturbances that produce spasmodic interruptions of the speech rhythm, repetitions, or prolongations of sounds or syllables: The child's stutter was no mere stammer of embarrassment.

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Example Sentences

All she could stammer, however, was, “It would be an honor.”

As an adult, I have heard people affecting a stammer or a stutter.

This was the unhappy and astonishing birth of my stammer or at least my first gripping self-conscious awareness of it.

But I also had an index in the back of my diary that explained that famul meant stutter of stammer.

Malcolm was hardly able to stammer his acceptance of the appointment thus offered, but the General had no time for useless talk.

He becomes quiet and less boisterous only to stammer out some idle talk and some nonsense.

There was nothing in the question to make me blush and stammer, yet I did both.

We must pass over Peter as usual, or will you try again once more—I will not say to read, but to stammer through a sentence.

He began to stammer out something like gentleness, and something like reproof.

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