as in to drool
to speak rapidly, inarticulately, and usually unintelligibly
she was so shocked that, for a moment, all she could do was sputter
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Recent Examples of sputter
The Celtics were still on top of the world, while the Pacers sputtered out of the gate.
—
Jared Weiss, The Athletic, 29 Dec. 2024
The initial rally of the country’s benchmark CSI 300 following the announcement has largely sputtered by now.
—Lee Ying Shan,ganesh Rao, CNBC, 16 Feb. 2025
In recent years, as diamond prices have sputtered and the BDP government has repeatedly been caught up in major corruption scandals, Botswana’s youthful electorate has begun to search for alternatives to the party of their elders.
—Keletso Thobega, The Christian Science Monitor, 30 Jan. 2025
The Bears lost Brown’s first four games as head coach by an average score of 27-11 as the offense sputtered to an average of 252 yards.
—Dan Wiederer, Chicago Tribune, 19 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for sputter
Jared Weiss, The Athletic, 29 Dec. 2024
The initial rally of the country’s benchmark CSI 300 following the announcement has largely sputtered by now.
—Lee Ying Shan,ganesh Rao, CNBC, 16 Feb. 2025
In recent years, as diamond prices have sputtered and the BDP government has repeatedly been caught up in major corruption scandals, Botswana’s youthful electorate has begun to search for alternatives to the party of their elders.
—Keletso Thobega, The Christian Science Monitor, 30 Jan. 2025
The Bears lost Brown’s first four games as head coach by an average score of 27-11 as the offense sputtered to an average of 252 yards.
—Dan Wiederer, Chicago Tribune, 19 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for sputter
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sputter
Verb
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There’s a reason scouts once drooled over Williams’ potential.—
C.J. Holmes,
New York Daily News,
8 Mar. 2025
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Symptoms from scorpion stings — such as burning at the sting site, drooling.—
Rick Sobey,
Boston Herald,
3 Mar. 2025
Verb
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Also, shout out to Roan's left thumbnail, which is currently swathed in a Band-Aid.—
Marci Robin,
Allure,
6 Mar. 2025
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Green shouted that the president did not have a mandate to cut Medicaid.—
Ted Johnson,
Deadline,
6 Mar. 2025
Verb
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Initially this seemed like a boon, and people chattered excitedly about how a notes call with Netflix execs would not leave you with myriad non-negotiable changes — for a time its appeal supplanted the Promised Land of HBO.—
Alex Levy,
IndieWire,
4 Mar. 2025
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Young people stand in between the gravestones, chattering, laughing and digging with shovels.—
Shira Li Bartov,
Sun Sentinel,
27 Feb. 2025
Verb
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Ally and Jay are both sarcastic, too — their best lines are muttered under their breaths — and their repartee becomes more interesting than the bloody theatrics.—
Amy Nicholson,
Los Angeles Times,
5 Feb. 2025
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But unlike France — which has both Napoleonic history and darkly muttering existentialists wandering the streets of Paris to remind everyone just how bad things can get — we Americans have no natural immunity.—
Pat Beall,
Orlando Sentinel,
18 Feb. 2025
Verb
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The couple went into his restaurant, Jinja Bar & Bistro, in the early 2000s, and ended up chatting with Lanham and the other owners, Lanham said.—
Nathan Solis,
Los Angeles Times,
4 Mar. 2025
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Stopping on the red carpet to chat with E!, Saldaña praised the fashion duo for always putting creativity first.—
Ingrid Vasquez,
People.com,
3 Mar. 2025
Verb
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But when the disheveled, withdrawn ex-friend shows up in the locker room gibbering about an evil spirit, Sam is mortified, impulsively knocking to the ground the grungy-looking Mason jar that Tamira has been carrying around.—
Dennis Harvey,
Variety,
18 Sep. 2023
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For a while, police interest bent toward a Phud who had been warned he might be eliminated from the program, who had seemed almost exultant about the fire and gibbered gleefully about the media spotlight.—
New York Times,
New York Times,
13 Apr. 2018
Verb
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Harker’s Isabella Lo had a shot at the tie, but her buzzer-beating 3-pointer rattled out.—
Glenn Reeves,
The Mercury News,
2 Mar. 2025
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The noise of the yelling broke off a piece of dead limb or bark, which rattled down through the tree above me and struck my shoulder.—
Frank C. Hibben,
Outdoor Life,
27 Feb. 2025
Verb
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Most children start stuttering between the ages of 2 and 5 years old and that stuttering has proven to be genetically based.—
Ryan Gaydos,
Fox News,
21 Feb. 2025
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As the fusion reactions in its core began to stutter, the radiation pressure of the energy produced in those reactions began to drop off.—
Keith Cooper,
Space.com,
20 Feb. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Sputter.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sputter. Accessed 15 Mar. 2025.
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