expectorating

verb

present participle of expectorate
1
as in spitting

Related Words

Relevance
2
as in blowing (out)

Related Words

Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for expectorating
  1. spitting
  2. expelling
  3. exhaling
Verb
  • Neutrons are unstable when they’re not bound in nuclei, spontaneously spitting out lighter particles in about 15 minutes to become the slightly lighter proton.
    — Cara Giovanetti, The Conversation, 25 Sep. 2026
  • Of course, Nicole made her presence felt in other ways as well, including spitting water into Jeremiah’s face and projectile vomiting all over the tribe camp.
    — Dalton Ross, Entertainment Weekly, 24 Sep. 2026
Definition of spitting
Verb
  • Those include bringing the Kurdish peshmerga security forces in northern Iraq under control of the central government’s military and expelling Iranian Kurdish dissident groups and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, that have bases in the region.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 15 Sep. 2026
  • The thought of the SEC expelling one of its charter members after 94 years of inclusion seems preposterous.
    — Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 9 Sep. 2026
Definition of expelling
Verb
  • Hubbard and his family can be heard exhaling as soon as the hook was dislodged.
    — Amaris Encinas, USA Today, 28 July 2026
  • Take 30 to 40 deep cyclical breaths, inhaling fully into the belly and chest, exhaling without force.
    — Allison Palmer, Kansas City Star, 28 May 2026
Definition of exhaling
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

expectorates
expectorating
expectoration
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Expectorating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/expectorating. Accessed 4 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

The Words of the Week - Oct. 2

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
name tags
Words Named After People Quiz Find out who’s behind "leotard," "morphine," an...
See All