splatter
Americanverb (used with or without object)
noun
-
an act or instance of splattering.
-
the quantity splattered.
to wipe up a splatter of ketchup on the rug.
adjective
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of splatter
Explanation
In horror movies, you'll see a lot of blood splattering on walls. Ick. To splatter is to splash liquid. A splatter is also the spot the liquid makes. When you spill some liquid on the ground, the sound it makes is splat. Splash a lot of it, and you have a splatter — drops of the liquid across a large area. If you are frying meat in a hot pan, the grease will splatter across the stove and counter near it. In the figurative use, gossip about a celebrity's mishaps is often splattered throughout a gossip magazine like spilled milk on a floor.
Vocabulary lists containing splatter
Holes
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A Thousand Splendid Suns
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Salt to the Sea
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Splatter auteur Rob Zombie gets back to his gory roots with “31,” a crowd-funded horror film designed to appeal to the filmmaker’s devotees.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 10, 2016
Pupu Splatter: An even less appetizing appetizer than the original.
From Washington Post • May 25, 2016
Although the Computers and Automation editorial announcing "Splatter Pattern" as the winner of its first competition is light on details, the name of the piece suggests its origins in ballistic calculations.
From The Verge • Jul. 13, 2015
Photograph: British Film Institute When I was about 12, I tricked my mother into buying me my first book about film: Splatter Movies, by John McCarty.
From The Guardian • Jun. 14, 2012
Splatter, splat′ėr, v.i. to spatter water or the like about.—n.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
