stutter

verb

stut·ter | \ ˈstə-tər

stuttered; stuttering; stutters

Definition of stutter

(Entry 1 of 2)

intransitive verb

1 : to speak with involuntary disruption or blocking of speech (as by repetition or prolongation of vocal sounds)

2 : to move or act in a halting or spasmodic manner the old jalopy bucks and stutters uphill— William Cleary

transitive verb

: to say, speak, or sound with or as if with a stutter

stutter

noun

Definition of stutter (Entry 2 of 2)

1 : an act or instance of stuttering

2 : the habitual tendency to stutter had a mild stutter : stuttering

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Examples of stutter in a Sentence

Verb

I used to stutter when I was a child. She stutters when she gets excited.

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

Bridgewater didn't turn the ball over, which is good, and finished 17-of-30 for 165 yards, but the offense stuttered at times and the Saints weren't able to score a touchdown. — Lucas Aulbach, The Courier-Journal, "With Drew Brees reportedly out 6 weeks, all eyes in the NFL turn to Teddy Bridgewater," 16 Sep. 2019 Despite that, Hitler’s stuttering war machine was repeatedly halted, bloodied and on occasion even defeated by the Polish defenders. — The Economist, "Poland’s forgotten heroism and suffering," 5 Sep. 2019 Portsmouth were remarkable for the first half of last season, largely thanks to a super debut season from Ronan Curtis, but stuttered in the latter half, consistency and the ability to last the distance are now required. — SI.com, "Football League: Preview of the 2019/20 Championship, League One & League Two Season," 2 Aug. 2019 People who stutter want to speak for themselves, so don’t try to speak for them. — Catie Wegman, sun-sentinel.com, "World’s largest gathering of people who stutter to meet in Fort Lauderdale," 21 June 2019 The stuttering Chinese car market just got more fuel, but not enough to take it very far. — Jacky Wong, WSJ, "More License Plates Won’t Turbocharge China’s Car Market," 3 June 2019 Barcelona stuttered to a shock defeat in their opening La Liga clash of the season, going down 1-0 to Athletic Club after a fabulous late overhead kick from veteran striker Aritz Aduriz. — SI.com, "Athletic 1-0 Barcelona: Suarez Injury Update, Griezmann's Debut & Valverde's Reaction to Shock Loss," 17 Aug. 2019 On the Beach Boys’ message, Dennis Wilson stuttered in the studio and Tom tried not to laugh. — Bianca Gracie, Billboard, "'SpongeBob SquarePants' Voice Actor Tom Kenny, Songwriter Andy Paley & More Reflect on 20 Years of Laughter & Music," 23 July 2019 England were slowly stuttering to a goalless draw against Caribbean minnows Trinidad & Tobago until Crouch rose above his marker to head home from close range. — SI.com, "Peter Crouch: 9 of the Striker's Best Moments Following Retirement," 12 July 2019

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

But there's a cost to using their creative gifts: Maggie stutters, Vic's eye weeps blood, and Manx? — Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, "Review: NOS4A2 is a haunting fable about the steep cost of creative gifts," 31 July 2019 Defender Robin Jansson slid past Przybylko, who stutter-stepped and buried the ball in the side netting just past goalkeeper Brian Rowe’s fingertips. — Julia Poe, Pro Soccer USA, "Orlando City falls 3-1 to Philadelphia Union while down two men due to red cards," 4 July 2019 How receiver Michael Pittman overcame a stutter to become the face of USC football. John Blanchette for the Spokesman-Review: The Washington Huskies have reloaded, and might just be better than ever. — oregonlive, "UO quarterback Justin Herbert’s childhood hero is former Oregon RB LaMichael James: Issues & Answers," 29 Aug. 2019 Given 10 yards of cushion by CB De’Vante Bausby, Thomas used a stutter-step-and-go move to create space on Bausby. — Ryan O'halloran, The Denver Post, "10 takeaways from Broncos’ 10-6 preseason loss to Rams," 25 Aug. 2019 FrameView has been optimized particularly for detailed frame time, present, and display scheduling metrics for measuring stutter. — Brad Chacos, PCWorld, "Nvidia's GeForce RTX 'Super' cards aim to one-up AMD with more power for the same price," 2 July 2019 From stuttering to jaguars Rabinowitz grew up in New York with a severe stutter. — Steve Winter, National Geographic, "The struggle to protect a vital jaguar corridor," 21 Aug. 2019 This is fine, just awkward for any neighbors who might catch a glimpse of your stutter-stepping back into position. — Brian Barrett, WIRED, "Harry Potter: Wizards Unite," 25 June 2019 Markets stutter: With Huawei grabbing new headlines, global stocks aren't shaking their trade anxiety just yet. — Julia Horowitz, CNN, "Uber losses; Broadcom strikes a deal; Huawei's OS," 9 Aug. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'stutter.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.