sputter
to make explosive popping or sizzling sounds.
to emit particles, sparks, etc., forcibly or explosively, especially accompanied by sputtering sounds.
to eject particles of saliva, food, etc., from the mouth in a light spray, as when speaking angrily or excitedly.
to utter or spit out words or sounds explosively or incoherently, as when angry or flustered.
to emit (anything) forcibly and in small particles, as if by spitting: The fire sputtered cinders.
to eject (saliva, food, etc.) in small particles explosively and involuntarily, as in excitement.
to utter explosively and incoherently.
the act or sound of sputtering.
explosive, incoherent utterance.
matter ejected in sputtering.
Origin of sputter
1Other words from sputter
- sput·ter·er, noun
- sput·ter·ing·ly, adverb
Words Nearby sputter
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use sputter in a sentence
The cell’s energy factory, the mitochondria, sputters and malfunctions.
What’s Your Biological Age? A New ‘Aging Clock’ Has the Answer | Shelly Fan | May 24, 2022 | Singularity HubThey continue to sputter up and down, without fully recovering.
The Big Idea: Saving the World’s Most Important Fish | Kevin M. Bailey | August 9, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTIf the only policy tool you allow yourself to use is tax credits, your reform agenda will sputter into ineffectuality.
Here's one graf: The Woodward reporting has caused the White House spin machine to sputter at a crucial time.
Bob Woodward and Politico and the Worst of Washington | Michael Tomasky | February 28, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTAnd racial divisions may become worse if the economy continues to sputter.
A Racially Polarized Election Augurs Ill for Barack Obama’s Second Term | Joel Kotkin | November 7, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
The veranda, roofless and open to the bitter blue sky where the seasonal gu rains sputter, serves as a makeshift neonatal ward.
She glanced uneasily at Gwynne and fancied she could hear him slam the lid of his breeding upon a supercilious sputter.
Ancestors | Gertrude AthertonShe laughed so hard that she blew the ashes out of her pipe, and they showered down over my face, and made me wink and sputter.
The Soldier of the Valley | Nelson LloydWelcome worked the requisite levers, the machine began to sputter, and the boys gave it a shove.
Motor Matt's Daring, or, True to His Friends | Stanley R. MatthewsWith a wheezy sputter, it stopped dead, refusing to answer the frantic twists Perry gave the handle-bars.
Motor Matt's Daring, or, True to His Friends | Stanley R. MatthewsThen all they'll do is buzz and sputter until the feedback is broken with the key.
Meeting of the Board | Alan Edward Nourse
British Dictionary definitions for sputter
/ (ˈspʌtə) /
another word for splutter (def. 1), splutter (def. 2), splutter (def. 3)
physics
to undergo or cause to undergo a process in which atoms of a solid are removed from its surface by the impact of high-energy ions, as in a discharge tube
to coat (a film of a metal) onto (a solid surface) by using this process
the process or noise of sputtering
incoherent stammering speech
something that is ejected while sputtering
Origin of sputter
1Derived forms of sputter
- sputterer, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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