as in muttering
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in drooling
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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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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Recent Examples of sputtering
Michael Kugelman, NPR, 21 Dec. 2024
Those reports have unnerved British officials, who fear the tariffs could throttle the country’s already sputtering economic growth.
—Mark Landler, New York Times, 20 Dec. 2024
Kushner heaps flashback upon flashback; minor characters flare promisingly to life—a creepy uncle of Lucien’s, a disgruntled ex-Moulinard—before sputtering out, victims of their own inconsequence.
—Alexandra Schwartz, The New Yorker, 7 Oct. 2024
The Chinese economy is sputtering and the government is working on a stimulus package to boost the economy.
—Pamela N. Danziger, Forbes, 18 Oct. 2024
With the Mets offense still sputtering and the bullpen taxed, Dodgers phenom Ohtani added insult to injury in the eighth inning.
—Jacob Lev, CNN, 17 Oct. 2024
The fact that the Chargers have kept games close despite their sputtering offense is a testament to the defensive makeover under first-year coordinator Jesse Minter.
—Thuc Nhi Nguyen, Los Angeles Times, 7 Oct. 2024
Last week, the Chinese government announced several broad measures to boost its economy, which has been sputtering and looks unlikely to meet its government’s annual growth target.
—Megan Poinski, Forbes, 1 Oct. 2024
Verb
But if the reform process lags and if Bangladesh's sputtering economy doesn't improve, the public's patience could start to wear thin for an administration that for now enjoys ample support.
—Michael Kugelman, NPR, 21 Dec. 2024
Those reports have unnerved British officials, who fear the tariffs could throttle the country’s already sputtering economic growth.
—Mark Landler, New York Times, 20 Dec. 2024
Kushner heaps flashback upon flashback; minor characters flare promisingly to life—a creepy uncle of Lucien’s, a disgruntled ex-Moulinard—before sputtering out, victims of their own inconsequence.
—Alexandra Schwartz, The New Yorker, 7 Oct. 2024
The Chinese economy is sputtering and the government is working on a stimulus package to boost the economy.
—Pamela N. Danziger, Forbes, 18 Oct. 2024
With the Mets offense still sputtering and the bullpen taxed, Dodgers phenom Ohtani added insult to injury in the eighth inning.
—Jacob Lev, CNN, 17 Oct. 2024
The fact that the Chargers have kept games close despite their sputtering offense is a testament to the defensive makeover under first-year coordinator Jesse Minter.
—Thuc Nhi Nguyen, Los Angeles Times, 7 Oct. 2024
Last week, the Chinese government announced several broad measures to boost its economy, which has been sputtering and looks unlikely to meet its government’s annual growth target.
—Megan Poinski, Forbes, 1 Oct. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sputtering
Verb
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After chatting to a voice LLM chatbot like ChatGPT, going back to trying to have a conversational user experience with Alexa (or Siri, or whoever) is frustrating.—
Bernard Marr,
Forbes.com,
14 Apr. 2025
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Brown suggested allowing for photos and videos to be shared, and adding video-chatting capabilities.—
James Watson,
Hartford Courant,
12 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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The script musters scant interest in Niki’s career ambitions and romantic complications, and her halting conversations with her mother keep chasing a climactic point of mutual understanding that never arrives — a poignant impasse, perhaps, but a difficult one to structure a film around.—
Guy Lodge,
Variety,
21 May 2025
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There’s more evidence of his mental decline in today’s publication of a book detailing his aides’ and confidants’ efforts to hide the effects of age in the now octogenarian and even more evidence in the release of the audio of his halting performance with former Special Counsel Robert Hur.—
New York Daily News Editorial Board,
New York Daily News,
20 May 2025
Adjective
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That prospect has left a number of moderate and vulnerable Republicans hesitant to cut a program that covers their constituents and risk facing political backlash in next year’s elections.—
Nik Popli,
Time,
20 May 2025
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While some organizations are understandably hesitant to abandon on-premises infrastructure entirely due to concerns over security, regulatory compliance, and data control, the reality is that maintaining an AI-ready on-premises data center often proves cost-prohibitive and operationally unfeasible.—
Ivo Ivanov,
Forbes.com,
20 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Sputtering.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sputtering. Accessed 4 Jun. 2025.
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