STAMMERING Synonyms: 66 Similar and Opposite Words

stammering 1 of 2

adjective

as in muttering

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stammering

2 of 2

verb

present participle of stammer

as in stuttering

to speak with many pauses and repetitions He stammers when he's nervous.

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Example Sentences

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.

Recent Examples of stammering

Adjective

Even characters like Lauren Domingue — sweet, stammering, fearful Lauren, who is not boring, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise! — Ben Rosenstock, Vulture, 27 Sep. 2025 The stammering old man is trying to be a Tamburlaine. — Anthony Lane, New Yorker, 8 Sep. 2025

Verb

After all, some in the party are still smarting about the 2008 presidential primary and more than a few are still stammering about the 2016 one. — Philip Elliott, Time, 3 Aug. 2026 Probst glides through his dialogue for the day in a single take, without stopping or even stammering. — David Canfield, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019

Recent Examples of Synonyms for stammering

Adjective

Windows Vista and its early WDDM woes had reduced my previously badass main PC with two Nvidia 7900GT cards in SLI to a stuttering BSOD-spitting mess, and the future of Microsoft OSes looked bleak—Windows 7 wouldn’t be along to change the situation for years.

— Lee Hutchinson, ArsTechnica, 6 May 2026

Definition of stuttering

Verb

Later that day, Rowley was drenched in sweat, rocking back and forth and mumbling incoherently as the poison – later identified as Novichok, a Russian nerve agent – took hold of him, too.

— Faith Karimi, CNN Money, 11 July 2026
Next up, maybe lawmakers can do something about overly soft, mumbling dialogue preceded by deafening explosions.

— Winston Cho, HollywoodReporter, 25 June 2026

Definition of mumbling

Adjective

This season’s combination of a sputtering offense and a shaky bullpen – exposed again Sunday as the Brewers padded their lead in the late innings – is already way too stomach-churning for Dodger fans.

— Jim Alexander, Oc Register, 17 Aug. 2026
Trump spoke now not only to distract from his sputtering Iran war and its effects on the economy, but also because his attempts to concretely interfere with the 2026 election thus far have almost all failed.

— David A. Graham, The Atlantic, 17 July 2026

Definition of sputtering

Adjective

The film spells out the gargantuan payouts that each Boeing CEO has received, despite the crashes and questions about their actions and the company’s faltering value.

— Stuart Miller, Los Angeles Times, 19 Aug. 2026
In 2019 and again in 2020, the company launched a pair of spacecraft that latched onto faltering communication satellites and steered them, providing extra years of life.

— Marcia Dunn, Fortune, 22 July 2026

Definition of faltering

Adjective

But after descending into the genre for the series and then returning for its sudden ending, Brown can’t exactly blame those hesitant to do the same.

— Hunter Ingram, Variety, 21 Aug. 2026
Approaching hesitant individuals Health experts said that addressing vaccine-hesitant people starts with listening rather than lecturing.

— Annika Kim Constantino, CNBC, 21 Aug. 2026

Definition of hesitant

Adjective

In 2025 the administration slashed the CRCL staff from roughly 150 employees down to just a handful, effectively halting operations.

— Vanessa Romo, NPR, 20 Aug. 2026
Yet, amid the turbulence, the southern nation of Zambia has charted a determined, if halting, course toward potential growth.

— The Christian Science Monitor, Christian Science Monitor, 19 Aug. 2026

Definition of halting

Adjective

Just as between them William James and Michael Oakeshott told us that there is no such thing as unmediated experience, so, surely, there is no such thing as inarticulate thought.

— Richard Lansdown, The New York Review of Books, 25 June 2026
Simpson, butched up and closed off and vibrating with inarticulate pain, is superb in the part, and Jimenez’s rigid shoulders and frozen face are wrenching.

— Sara Holdren, Vulture, 20 May 2026

Definition of inarticulate

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“Stammering.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stammering. Accessed 26 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of stammering

adjective

verb

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