sputter
Moist matter thrown out in small detached particlesMoist matter thrown out in small detached particles.
» Ziri coughed, sputtered and gasped for air.
Meaning
2 senses(countable, uncountable)Moist matter thrown out in small detached particles.
(countable, uncountable)Confused and hasty speech.
- an utterance (of words) with spitting sounds (as in rage)
- the noise of something spattering or sputtering explosively
Examples
6 sentencesZiri coughed, sputtered and gasped for air.
They can't help but sputter excuses for their sorry behavior.
"How dare you talk like that to me?" he sputtered with indignation.
As I turned the handle of the crankshaft, the old tractor sputtered to life.
Sputter deposition is widely employed in the semiconductor industry.
Origin
Probably representing Middle English *sputren, *sputrien, a frequentative form of Middle EProbably 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.
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Forms
plural: sputtersSynonyms
6 synonyms- an utterance (of words) with spitting sounds (as in rage):splutter
- the noise of something spattering or sputtering explosively:spatterspatteringsplattersplatteringspluttersputtering
Lessons for this word
1 lessons- A1Countable and uncountable nouns — Because it can be uncountable