stammer

[ stam-er ]
See synonyms for stammer on Thesaurus.com
verb (used without object)
  1. to speak with involuntary breaks and pauses, or with spasmodic repetitions of syllables or sounds.

verb (used with object)
  1. to say with a stammer (often followed by out).

noun
  1. a stammering mode of utterance.

  2. a stammered utterance.

Origin of stammer

1
First recorded before 1000; Middle English verb stammeren, Old English stamerian (cognate with German stammern ), equivalent to stam “stammering” + -erian -er6; akin to Old Norse stamma “to stammer,” Gothic stams “stammering”

synonym study For stammer

1. Stammer, stutter mean to speak with some form of difficulty. Stammer, the general term, suggests a speech disfluency that results in broken or inarticulate sounds and sometimes in complete stoppage of speech; it may be temporary, caused by sudden excitement, confusion, embarrassment, or other emotion, or it may be persistent and require speech therapy for its correction. Stutter, the parallel term preferred in technical usage, designates a broad range of speech production disturbances that produce spasmodic interruptions of the speech rhythm, repetitions, or prolongations of sounds or syllables: The child's stutter was no mere stammer of embarrassment.

Other words for stammer

Other words from stammer

  • stam·mer·er, noun
  • stam·mer·ing·ly, adverb
  • un·stam·mer·ing, adjective
  • un·stam·mer·ing·ly, adverb

Words that may be confused with stammer

  • stammer , stutter (see synonym study at the current entry)

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use stammer in a sentence

  • He was followed by another who had a keen sense of the ludicrous, and who was withal an inveterate stammerer.

    Library Notes | A. P. Russell
  • "B--b--beautiful city," interposed the stammerer, eager to join our conversation, whenever he could catch a word of it.

    In the Days of My Youth | Amelia Ann Blandford Edwards
  • The next year he died, leaving one son, Ludwig the Stammerer, to succeed him.

    A History of Germany | Bayard Taylor
  • A memorable reverse of fortune was displayed in Michael the Second, who from a defect in his speech was surnamed the Stammerer.

  • It stops and hesitates, and blurts out its notes like a stammerer; but when they do come they are marvelously clear and pure.

    Fresh Fields | John Burroughs

British Dictionary definitions for stammer

stammer

/ (ˈstæmə) /


verb
  1. to speak or say (something) in a hesitant way, esp as a result of a speech disorder or through fear, stress, etc

noun
  1. a speech disorder characterized by involuntary repetitions and hesitations

Origin of stammer

1
Old English stamerian; related to Old Saxon stamarōn, Old High German stamm

Derived forms of stammer

  • stammerer, noun
  • stammering, noun, adjective
  • stammeringly, adverb

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012