to sputter

Examples

• All

• On the balcony - Agent Star and Goodspeed hoist Directory Womack, red-faced and sputtering, over the railing.

  Fiction book (1996)

• A cheap walkie-talkie, lying beside a paper plate of soggy Oreos, sputters and buzzes occasionally.

  Fiction book (1995)

• The engine sputters but won't come to life.

  Fiction book (2001)

• And yet there he was on his knees against the rail, coughing, sputtering, but obviously still alive.

  Fiction book (1992)

• By the time I came up sputtering, the undertow had already pulled the car twenty meters out to sea.

  Fiction book (1997)

• Lo and behold, the kid figures it out and sputters his way to the other shore.

  Blog text (20)

• Marion Wade came up sputtering and gasping for air.

  Fiction book (2000)

• Larry, thank God, was coughing and sputtering, while water streamed like Niagara from his snowsuit onto the floor.

  Fiction book (1997)

• The engine began to sputter before it finally died out on the highway.

• After inhaling the hot pepper, she sputtered and reached for a glass of water.

Synonyms

S

to spit out

vsto sputter

94 2.3

To push food or drink out of your mouth

focuses on irregular explosive popping actions rather than deliberate ejection

S

to splutter

vsto sputter

4 7.5

To speak in short, broken sounds when angry or shocked

describes forceful ejection with popping noises rather than speech

Antonyms

S

silence

660 2.0

A period with no sound or speech

How Forceful

to spurt

7 3.1

spit

57 1.0

to sputter

3 5.6

to drip

171 1.0

to ooze

64 3.9

Surface Forms

Etymology