Word.ws English Dictionary

sputter out

sputter out verb: to emit a series of irregular, erratic popping or spitting sounds before shutting off.

Verb

sputter out (third-person singular simple present sputters out, present participle sputtering out, simple past and past participle sputtered out)

  1. (intransitive, usually, motor) To emit a series of irregular, erratic popping or spitting sounds before shutting off.
    Synonyms:
    stall out
  2. (informal, intransitive) To die.
    • You'd better give me something so I don't die / Novocaine for the soul / Before I sputter out.1996, Mark Goldenberg, Mark Oliver Everett, “Novocaine for the Soul”, in Beautiful Freak, performed by Eels

Synonyms of sputter out

Forms of sputter out

third-person singular presentsputters out
present participlesputtering out
past participlesputtered out
pastsputtered out

Questions about sputter out

What does sputter out mean?
Sputter out means to emit a series of irregular, erratic popping or spitting sounds before shutting off.
What part of speech is sputter out?
Sputter out is a verb.
What is the past tense of sputter out?
The past tense of sputter out is sputtered out.

Words near sputter out in the dictionary

  1. sputtel
  2. sputtels
  3. sputter
  4. sputter coating
  5. sputter coatings
  6. sputter out
  7. sputterable
  8. sputtercoated
  9. sputtercoating
  10. sputtercoatings
  11. sputtered

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sputter out (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “sputter out.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sputter_out. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.