sputter
English · Thesaurus
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sputter
- /ˈspʌtɚ/ US
Rhymes with -ʌtə(ɹ)
Where it comes from
Probably representing Middle English *sputren, *sputrien, a frequentative form of Middle English sputen (“to spout, vomit”), equivalent to spout + -er. Cognate with Saterland Frisian spüttern (“to inject, spray, splash”), West Frisian sputterje (“to sputter”), Dutch sputteren (“to sputter”), Low German sputtern, spruttern (“to sprinkle”), German sprudeln (“to spout, squirt”). Compare splutter.
noun sputters
- Moist matter thrown out in small detached particles.
- Confused and hasty speech.
verb sputters · sputtering · sputtered
- To emit saliva or spit from the mouth in small, scattered portions, as in rapid speaking. The child [...] kicked, and crowed, and sputtered, when his mother took him, and put up his little fingers to clutch her hair, and was to her as a young god upon the earth. Nothing in the world had ever been created so beautiful, so joyous, so satisfactory, so divine!
- To speak so rapidly as to emit saliva; to utter words hastily and indistinctly, with a spluttering sound, as in rage. They could neither of them speak their rage, and so fell a sputtering at one another, like two roasting apples.
-
To throw out anything, as little jets of steam, with a noise like that made by one sputtering.
Like the green wood [...] sputtering in the flame.
Similar: stutter
- To cause surface atoms or electrons of a solid to be ejected by bombarding it with heavy atoms or ions.
- To coat the surface of an object by sputtering.
Translations
Every language
verb to emit saliva or spit from the mouth in small, scattered portions, as in rapid speaking
| Español | farfullar |
|---|---|
| Français | postillonner |
| Deutsch | spucken |
| Italiano | sputacchiare |
| Русский | бры́згать слюной brýzgatʹ |
verb to speak so rapidly as to emit saliva; to utter words hastily and indistinctly
| Deutsch | mit feuchter Aussprache sprechen |
|---|---|
| Русский | бессвязно говори́ть bessvjazno |
verb to cause surface atoms or electrons of a solid to be ejected by bombarding it with heavy atoms or ions
| Français | pulvériser |
|---|
verb to coat the surface of an object by sputtering
| Français | revêtir, métalliser |
|---|---|
| Русский | напылять napyljatʹ |
Talk about this word "sputter." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/sputter. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. sputter. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/sputter "sputter." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/sputter.Cite this
@misc{sputter_2026,
title = {sputter},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/sputter},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
