How to Use sputter in a Sentence

sputter

1 of 2 verb
  • The motor sputtered and died.
  • He was sputtering with rage.
  • She sputtered an angry protest.
  • The offense sputtered in the first half.
    — The Athletic Staff, New York Times, 22 Sep. 2025
  • The passing game has sputtered.
    — Mike Jones, New York Times, 28 Sep. 2025
  • The Bills sputtered, one drive after the next.
    — Joe Buscaglia, New York Times, 29 Sep. 2025
  • In that case, the current demand surge would sputter and die away.
    — James MacKintosh, WSJ, 31 May 2021
  • At some point, the balloon won’t be able to take in any more air and will pop or sputter out air.
    — Julia Ries Wexler, SELF, 6 Feb. 2026
  • Rather than seize control of the game, the offense sputtered at the wrong time.
    — Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 7 Oct. 2025
  • On the bedside table, my phone sputtered awake.
    — Shafiq Najib, ABC News, 7 Apr. 2026
  • Melton sputtered in his previous five games.
    — Ron Kroichick, San Francisco Chronicle, 8 Apr. 2026
  • The car sputtered out of the gate, but hit Autobahn speeds by the end.
    — Bryce Miller, San Diego Union-Tribune, 14 Feb. 2024
  • Each Roy child sputters a word salad of love and hurt and fury into the phone.
    — James Poniewozik, New York Times, 10 Apr. 2023
  • While the climax sputters a bit, the rest is taut and engrossing.
    — Randy Myers, Mercury News, 7 Aug. 2025
  • The mixture may start to sputter, so be careful to avoid getting burned.
    — Washington Post, 26 Aug. 2021
  • The Heat have sputtered of late with seven losses in the past nine games.
    — Matthew Davis, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Mar. 2026
  • Patricia said, sputtering out some smoke and putting a hand on her chest.
    — Hazlitt, 26 July 2023
  • But that rally sputtered out, and oil prices have been falling in recent weeks.
    — Clifford Krauss, New York Times, 26 May 2023
  • For much of the spring and summer, the effort sputtered and tensions rose.
    — Simon Shuster, Time, 8 Aug. 2025
  • The Dodgers’ offense again sputtered.
    — Maddie Lee, Los Angeles Times, 10 May 2026
  • So, the Dodgers’ offense has been sputtering as of late.
    — Assistant Sports Editor, Los Angeles Times, 4 May 2026
  • The Rangers’ offense sputtered out just three hits and couldn’t catch up to fastballs.
    — Shawn McFarland, Dallas News, 2 Sep. 2023
  • The few cars that attempted to drive through the flood sputtered and died, bonnet-deep in swirling pondweed.
    — Literary Hub, 26 Feb. 2026
  • This Panthers have had good seasons one year only to sputter the next.
    — Dave Hyde, sun-sentinel.com, 17 Apr. 2021
  • But the extent to which its defense is sputtering may be a surprise.
    — Robert Marvi, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 Sep. 2025
  • Professional sports figured out how to sputter back to life over the past three months.
    — Marc Stein, New York Times, 25 Oct. 2020
  • But now their plane was low on fuel, engines sputtering, with no airfield in sight.
    — John Kelly, Washington Post, 28 May 2023
  • Just because a romantic spark sputtered doesn't mean a friendship should fall apart.
    — David Oliver, USA TODAY, 23 Mar. 2023
  • Hopefully, the move won’t sputter and die when the public outrage calms.
    — George Skelton, Los Angeles Times, 17 Oct. 2022
  • While Hernández found contact on each of his at-bats, the rest of the team sputtered through six innings.
    — Liana Handler, Los Angeles Times, 26 May 2026

sputter

2 of 2 noun
  • The nice little roll the Rangers were on has kind of turned into a sputter.
    — Stefan Stevenson, star-telegram.com, 21 June 2017
  • Their responses were mainly to sigh, sputter, snark, or scream.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 7 Aug. 2021
  • That ratchets up the pressure to sink or swim -- or rather, soar or sputter -- strictly on its own terms.
    — Brian Lowry, CNN, 19 Aug. 2022
  • No buzzing sales banter and gossip, no sputter of yellow and white taxis or boda boda taxi bikes.
    — David McKenzie, CNN, 26 May 2018
  • The rolling rat-a-tat sputter of white and yolk dancing ecstatically in the pan.
    — Chris Morocco, Bon Appetit, 19 Sep. 2017
  • The rolling rat-a-tat sputter of white and yolk dancing ecstatically in the pan.
    — Chris Morocco, Bon Appetit, 22 Mar. 2017
  • Moments later, the group heard a loud bang and sputter coming from the other boat, and saw a cloud of black smoke rising.
    — Washington Post, 2 June 2021
  • Aaron Judge, as the Yankees’ band leader, would not let his group of misfits sputter.
    — Julian McWilliams, BostonGlobe.com, 13 Sep. 2022
  • Investors can still get their money back if the borrower’s stock sputters, though defaults remain a risk.
    — Daniel Kruger, WSJ, 10 Dec. 2018
  • For now, though, the ever-dying Obamacare repeal drive is showing some sputters of new life.
    — Sy Mukherjee, Fortune, 18 Sep. 2017
  • As wings shrink, air friction overwhelms flight power—that’s why dragonflies soar as houseflies sputter.
    — Jack Tamisiea, Scientific American, 21 Mar. 2022
  • But will that ring true if the new offense sputters or if Jackson again misses vital games because of injury?
    — Childs Walker, Baltimore Sun, 13 July 2023
  • So does Minnesota’s defensive unit, which could be asked to prop up the offense if there are any early sputters.
    — Jace Frederick, Twin Cities, 7 Sep. 2025
  • Following the brief sputter, however, Creery bounced back to play his next four holes in one-under par and make the turn at one-over.
    — Chris Jeter, baltimoresun.com, 26 Sep. 2019
  • The tech giant is under pressure to build up new areas of business as growth in its bread-and-butter smartphone business sputters.
    — Tripp Mickle, WSJ, 20 Mar. 2019
  • But Speights gives Vogel an intriguing option if the team can’t get out and run or if its half-court offense sputters.
    — Josh Robbins, OrlandoSentinel.com, 15 Oct. 2017
  • When cooking messy dishes like bacon or spaghetti sauce, place a splatter screen over the pan to keep any sputters from covering the cooktop.
    — Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 14 Nov. 2025
  • When cooking messy dishes like bacon or spaghetti sauce, place a splatter screen over the pan to keep any sputters from covering the cooktop.
    — Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 14 Nov. 2025
  • And as hopes of a quick recovery sputter, fear is rising that a long-term collapse of downtown economies could soon become irreversible.
    — Washington Post, 25 Sep. 2020
  • The Wildcats’ hope is that will help prevent an early offensive sputter, which factored into the slow start.
    — Matt Goul, cleveland.com, 2 Aug. 2019
  • Even as the world’s economic engines sputter, AmEx’s rebound from its brush with death has made Squeri even more bullish.
    — Jennifer Surane, Bloomberg.com, 13 Dec. 2022
  • As soon as the plane took off, witnesses recalled hearing the engine sputter and seeing the plane crash into Beards Creek.
    — Justin George, Washington Post, 26 Dec. 2022
  • That's challenging as consumer demand sputters and sales are plummeting in China, the world's largest car market.
    — Jamie L. Lareau, Detroit Free Press, 2 July 2019
  • Everything bogs down and the Irish offense sputters with a few three and outs, and everyone on the outside will fret about him, his playbook, the future.
    — Tom Noie, USA TODAY, 25 Aug. 2023
  • As the global economy sputters, investors are plowing money into long-term US bonds.
    — Cnn.com Wire Service, The Mercury News, 14 Aug. 2019
  • But the offense went into a complete sputter for much of that period -- and that, combined with Durant's foul trouble, led to big problems.
    — Tim Reynolds, Star Tribune, 25 July 2021
  • But the offense went into a complete sputter for much of that period -- and that, combined with Durant’s foul trouble, led to big problems.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 26 July 2021
  • During the fourth quarter, the Georgia offense began sputter and allowed the Tigers to creep back into the contest.
    — Brett Shweky, sun-sentinel.com, 18 Nov. 2019
  • At other times, her defensive engagement and pursuit motor for rebounds sputters and stalls out completely.
    — Julia Poe, Chicago Tribune, 2 June 2026
  • But most people with any understanding of how the platform works say Twitter is unlikely to just cough, sputter, and go dark forever.
    — Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 17 Nov. 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'sputter.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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