How to use splutter in a sentence

11 example sentences · noun, verb, interjection

Splutter means a forceful emission of something, especially in small drops or particles; a spluttering or sputtering. Example: “There was a flicker of matches as they were applied to the fuses, and then a splutter of sparks.”

Examples of splutter by meaning

nounA forceful emission of something, especially in small drops or particles; a spluttering or sputtering.

a splutter of water from a pipe
There was a flicker of matches as they were applied to the fuses, and then a splutter of sparks.1912, Victor Appleton [pseudonym], “Tom’s Mysterious Box”, in Tom Swift in Captivity: Or A Daring Escape by Airship (Tom Swift Series), New...

nounChaotic and forceful speaking, verbal exchange, etc.; (countable) an instance of this.

a splutter of rage from the old man

verbOf a thing: to forcefully emit something, especially in small drops or particles.

The old-fashioned pen spluttered and scratched as he wrote.1951, Lloyd L[ouis] Brown, chapter 15, in Richard Yarborough, editor, Iron City […] (The Northeastern Library of Black Literature), Boston...

More sentences with splutter

Just when he thought that the cross-examination was over and he'd parried the questions successfully, one of the lawyers stood up and threw a left hook that left him spluttering.From the entry left hook
It's a draw!” Polly hung tangled in the net, coughing and spluttering.2014 November 20, Matt and Dave, Yuck's Fantastic Football Match, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN. From the entry football match
The engine caught, spluttered, and roared as Tom choked the car delicately.1939, John Steinbeck, chapter 26, in The Grapes of Wrath, New York: Viking, published 1962, page 492. From the entry choke
He sat quite still, listening intently, sometimes spluttering with laughter when I made a specially odd face, sometimes receiving me in preoccupied silence.1959, Anthony Glyn, chapter 8, in I Can Take It All, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Company, published 1960, →LCCN, page 167. From the entry spluttery
And “Old P” had stuck, for the whole of the year that Tony had had her, as her grinding day by day got grindier and her spluttering splutterier.1986, H[enry] R[eymond] F[itzwalter] Keating, “Old P”, in Ellery Queen’s Prime Crimes, Secaucus, N.J.: Castle, published 1988, →ISBN, page…. From the entry spluttery
But on the evening before election, a staunch Democrat who had been on one of our telephone jobs came to my door — just faunching and spluttering.1931, Anne Ellis, Plain Anne Ellis, published 1997, →ISBN, page 151. From the entry faunch
As the gunman spluttered, Towler continued the momentum of his hand to catch the man side-handed in the windpipe and, with his other hand, struck him hard in the crotch.1992, Kenneth Royce, Exchange of Doves, →ISBN, page 84. From the entry side-handed

Meaning of splutter

noun A forceful emission of something, especially in small drops or particles; a spluttering or sputtering.
noun A forceful choking or spitting sound.
noun A noisy commotion.

Full definition of splutter

Questions about splutter in a sentence

How do you use splutter in a sentence?: Splutter is used as a noun, verb and interjection. For example: “There was a flicker of matches as they were applied to the fuses, and then a splutter of sparks.”
What is a short sentence with splutter?: “a splutter of water from a pipe”
What does splutter mean?: Splutter means a forceful emission of something, especially in small drops or particles; a spluttering or sputtering.

Adapted from Wiktionary: splutter (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use splutter in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/splutter. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.