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Glite Dictionary
to splutter in disbelief

to splutter in disbelief

7.6
To make short, broken sounds when you speak because you do not believe something
  • phrasal verb
  • /ˈsplʌtər ɪn dɪsˈbilif/
translation icon : balbucear de incredulidad
  • She spluttered in disbelief at the outrageous price of the tickets.

Examples

  • He spluttered in disbelief when he heard the news!

  • Many people splutter in disbelief when told the astonishing results of the experiment.

  • He could only splutter in disbelief when he was accused of cheating.

  • Don't splutter in disbelief!

  • He could only splutter in disbelief when he was accused of cheating.

  • Many people splutter in disbelief when told the astonishing results of the experiment.

  • He spluttered in disbelief after witnessing the unexpected turn of events.

Synonyms

to sputter
vsto splutter in disbelief
12 6.5

To speak in short angry bursts with spitting sounds

is used when speech shows confusion or disbelief rather than anger or excitement
to splutter
vsto splutter in disbelief
4 7.5

To speak in short, broken sounds when angry or shocked

is used mainly when the speaker is shocked or finds something hard to believe
to falter
vsto splutter in disbelief
4 5.4

To speak in a weak, broken voice because of strong feeling

is sudden confused speech caused by surprise rather than slow hesitation

Antonyms

to keep it together
  • Informal
27 5.4

To stay calm and control your feelings in a difficult situation

How Shocked

to scream
∞ 1.0
to splutter in disbelief
7.6
to exclaim
81 3.4
to say
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

splutter in disbelief infinitive
spluttered in disbelief past
spluttered in disbelief past participle
spluttering in disbelief present participle
splutters in disbelief third person singular

Morphology

splutter + in + disbelief

The meaning is directly compositional: 'splutter' denotes halting, explosive speech and 'in disbelief' specifies the mental state causing that speech, so a learner knowing the parts can infer 'to speak in a shocked or disbelieving way.' This construction follows straightforward English verb + prepositional phrase composition and is cross-linguistically transparent, so it should be clear to a B1 learner.

Etymology

Splutter in disbelief comes from the image of someone so shocked they try to speak but make short, broken sounds and small spits instead of clear words. Those noisy attempts are splutter, and being in disbelief means you cannot believe something, so splutter in disbelief means 'to speak in a confused or shocked way'.