Raja Krishnamoorthi

For too long, people in Washington and Congress point fingers at each other, even as millions of middle-class Americans remain unemployed and our economy continues to sputter. They must realize that we are all in this together, and I respectfully submit that the best way to remind Congress of this is to tie their pay to their collective results.

American Businessman

Terry Glavin

Argentina has elected a centre-right president, Mauricio Macri. Bolivia's Evo Morales, having lost a referendum that would have allowed him a fourth presidential term, spends his time muttering about CIA plots and issuing threats to jail journalists who persist in reporting influence-peddling scandals. The economy is a sputtering shambles.

Canadian Author

Gregory Benford

To us large creatures, space-time is like the sea seen from an ocean liner, smooth and serene. Up close, though, on tiny scales, it's waves and bubbles. At extremely fine scales, pockets and bubbles of space-time can form at random, sputtering into being, then dissolving.

American Physicist

John J. McLaughlin

I predict 2016 will be a year of upheaval and realignment across the world. China's economy will continue to sputter. Commodity exporting countries will suffer. Europe's growth will remain flat-lined. The U.S. will plug along at under 3% growth.

American Journalist

Chris Avellone

We've pitched and even begun development on a number of fantasy worlds that have never seen the light of day. All of those worlds... It's soul-crushing to see them sputter out, one by one. Lost. Like tears. In rain.

American Designer

Dick Morris

Yes' is a far more potent word than 'no' in American politics. By adopting the positions which animate the political agenda for the other side, one can disarm them and leave them sputtering with nothing to say.

American Author

Gore Vidal

From April 1775 to July 1776, the undeclared war between England and its American colonies smoldered, flared up, appeared to sputter out... It was hardly, ever, a mass rebellion.

American Novelist

Ian Frazier

I suppose anybody just losing it and sputtering curses is pretty funny. But I think it would be more of a challenge, much more of a challenge, to make a cursing dad funny.

American Writer

William S. Burroughs

A cat's rage is beautiful, burning with pure cat flame, all its hair standing up and crackling blue sparks, eyes blazing and sputtering.

Joel Grey

My father was the one who used to stand up in the middle of a number to flutter his lips and make sputtering sounds into lyrics.

American Actor

Used when emotions disrupt clear speaking, often due to excitement, fear, or confusion.

Emotional Speech

When surprised or interrupted, someone may sputter as they try to regain composure.

Sudden Interruption

Describing machinery, indicates it's not operating smoothly and may need repair.

Sign of Malfunction

Can illustrate the beginning or ending of an action, usually abruptly.

Onset or End

Describes a sensory experience, adding a visual or auditory aspect to a scene.

Vivid Imagery

Use in cooking contexts to communicate caution due to hot, spitting oil or fat.

Caution in Cooking

A sputter sound can suggest a lack of power or impending failure in machinery or efforts.

Sign of Weakness

Represents interruptions in what is expected to be a continuous noise or action

Interrupted Sequence

 in very real ways. Diseases we've had in check for decades and centuries burst forth again and start to harm us. The economy needs them. If we can't throw out the old stuff, we have no room for the new stuff, so then the engines of the economy start to sputter when consumption is compromised.

What I discovered in New...

 rather graphically, to the sputtering or hissing of a gas or liquid being forced out of a narrow opening. The figurative sense of the word, a weak ending, is thus understandable within the context of a flame consuming the last drops of oil in a lantern

Mysteries of vernacular:...

 at least simple life forms, simple microbes, maybe single-celled things; how does life begin? Does it begin with a spark, a sputter, a smolder? Does it evolve slowly? Or is it that when you have simple-celled organisms, microorganisms,

Sputter