spatter

American  

[spat-er] / ˈspæt ər /

verb (used with object)

1. to scatter or dash in small particles or drops.

   The dog spattered mud on everyone when he shook himself.

2. to splash with something in small particles.

   to spatter the ground with water.

3. to sprinkle or spot with something that soils or stains.

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verb (used without object)

1. to send out small particles or drops, as falling water.

   rain spattering on a tin roof.

2. to strike a surface in or as in a shower, as bullets.

noun

1. the act or the sound of spattering.

   the spatter of rain on a roof.

2. a splash or spot of something spattered.

spatter British  

/ ˈspætə /

verb

1. to scatter or splash (a substance, esp a liquid) or (of a substance) to splash (something) in scattered drops

   to spatter mud on the car

   mud spattered in her face

2. (tr) to sprinkle, cover, or spot (with a liquid)

3. (tr) to slander or defame

4. (intr) to shower or rain down

   bullets spattered around them

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noun

1. the sound of something spattering

2. something spattered, such as a spot or splash

3. the act or an instance of spattering

Other Word Forms

• spatteringly adverb
• unspattered adjective

Etymology

Origin of spatter

1575–85; perhaps < Dutch spatt ( en ) to splash + -er ⁶; compare Dutch spatterig literally, spattery

Explanation

If you spatter something, you splash it with tiny drops of a liquid, like the way the artist Jackson Pollock dripped and spattered paint across a large canvas. You can spatter sauce across your stretched-out pizza dough, and you can also listen to rain spatter against the windows during a storm. Spatter can describe the splashing of a substance, like paint on a piece of wood, or the sound something makes, like the spatter of pebbles against the side of the shed. Experts believe spatter comes from the imitative Low German verb spatten, "to spout or burst."

Example Sentences

“We don’t have photographs, site plans, measurements, the recovery of projectiles, blood spatter analysis, all of those things we would normally get at a crime scene.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 7, 2026

Mejia also said that he saw what appeared to be blood spatter on Grossman’s vehicle, but that he did not have the material analyzed.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 3, 2024

For decades, organizations like the Innocence Project have worked to weed pseudoscience out of courts — microscopic hair analysis, blood spatter analysis and bite mark evidence have all been used to wrongly convict defendants.

From New York Times • May 15, 2023

In the defense’s defense, there isn’t strong physical evidence—blood spatter on clothing, fingerprints or footprints, or a definitive murder weapon—tying Alex Murdaugh to the killings.

From Slate • Feb. 27, 2023

A soft spatter sounds from Willa’s bedroom window.

From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin

Related Words

• daub
• mottle
• smudge
• speckle