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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Examples of sputter in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Sales of some of those products, like chewing gum, have sputtered in recent years as snacking habits shift.
—
Dee-Ann Durbin, Los Angeles Times, 14 Aug. 2024
Weeks of tests have not made clear whether the spacecraft can return without the propulsion system sputtering again, which could keep Wilmore and Williams from making it through the atmosphere and back to Earth.
—Marina Koren, The Atlantic, 25 Aug. 2024
Tasked with navigating a receding advertising market and the strikes that took over Hollywood last summer, Zaslav sputtered.
—Quartz Staff, Quartz, 16 Aug. 2024
Meanwhile, the pan-European Green coalition sputtered, losing 18 seats.
—TIME, 30 July 2024
See all Example Sentences for sputter 
Dee-Ann Durbin, Los Angeles Times, 14 Aug. 2024
Weeks of tests have not made clear whether the spacecraft can return without the propulsion system sputtering again, which could keep Wilmore and Williams from making it through the atmosphere and back to Earth.
—Marina Koren, The Atlantic, 25 Aug. 2024
Tasked with navigating a receding advertising market and the strikes that took over Hollywood last summer, Zaslav sputtered.
—Quartz Staff, Quartz, 16 Aug. 2024
Meanwhile, the pan-European Green coalition sputtered, losing 18 seats.
—TIME, 30 July 2024
See all Example Sentences for sputter
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'sputter.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Sputter.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sputter. Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.
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