spurt
Americanverb (used without object)
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spurts,
present (3rd person singular)
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spurted,
past participle, past
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spurting
present participle
verb (used with object)
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spurts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
spurted,
past participle, past
-
spurting
present participle
noun
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spurts
plural
-
a sudden, forceful gush or jet.
- Synonyms:
- spout
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a marked increase of effort for a short period or distance, as in running, rowing, etc.
-
a sudden burst or outburst, as of activity, energy, or feeling.
verb
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to gush or cause to gush forth in a sudden stream or jet
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to make a sudden effort
noun
-
a sudden forceful stream or jet
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a short burst of activity, speed, or energy
Synonym Usage
See flow.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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spurtsimple
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spurtssimple
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have spurtedperfect
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has spurtedperfect
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am spurtingprogressive
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are spurtingprogressive
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is spurtingprogressive
-
have been spurtingperfect progressive
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has been spurtingperfect progressive
Past
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spurtedsimple
-
had spurtedperfect
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was spurtingprogressive
-
were spurtingprogressive
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had been spurtingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of spurt
First recorded in 1560–70; variant of spirt; origin uncertain
Explanation
Things that spurt gush, stream, or flow rapidly. If you laugh too hard while drinking a Coke, soda might spurt out of your nose. Ouch! Spurt is also a noun: "A spurt of water erupted from the hole in the water balloon before she had a chance to throw it." Though a jet of liquid is usually what spurts, the word is also used for quick bursts of speed, like a race car that spurts forward suddenly, winning at the last second. The origin of spurt isn't certain, but it may be related to the German spürzen, "to spit" and sprützen, "to squirt."
Vocabulary lists containing spurt
Excerpt from "The Little Mermaid"
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Vocabulary from Readings 2, Unit 1
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Vocabulary from Readings 2, Unit 1
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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.
See Examples For:
Plus, ex-Liquid I.V. marketer Stacey Andrade-Wells joins Bobbie to power the formula brand’s next growth spurt.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
Both her sons have been through a growth spurt this summer, so she is expecting to spend more than £200 on their branded items alone.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
While some naysayers doubted Cook could carry the brand forward, he has proven them wrong, leading the company on an unprecedented growth spurt.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2026
Some may perceive this as mere growing pains for a now-decade-old Silicon Valley giant that experienced a massive growth spurt after ChatGPT’s takeoff.
From Slate ● Mar. 25, 2026
The Isengarders began to run with a redoubled pace that astonished Pippin, a terrific spurt it seemed for the end of a race.
From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien
The medication, which was first developed 15 years ago, can result in increased height if administered during growth spurts.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
Against the world champions, spurts don’t get it done, and less than 48 minutes doesn’t get it done.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 8, 2026
In these environments, black holes experienced brief but intense growth spurts through a process known as 'super Eddington accretion'.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 26, 2026
It requires coaches to bet on teenagers before they have hit their growth spurts and based on rankings assigned by high school scouts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 8, 2026
That I’d fallen asleep in fits and spurts and gotten up when I couldn’t force my wandering mind to stay stationary anymore.
From "The Marrow Thieves" by Cherie Dimaline
Eyewitnesses described the tanker "swinging around like a compass" as waves crashed over the abandoned ship and black plumes of oil spurted out into the sea.
From BBC ● Feb. 14, 2026
Treasury yields have spurted higher as they catch up with the main interest rate controlled by the Federal Reserve, which is at its highest level since 2001.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 26, 2023
Thus, the Huns were spurted to shift from herders to raiders.
From Salon ● Dec. 24, 2022
The nozzle contained a barrel with phosphorus matches that ignited the liquid as it spurted out.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 18, 2020
She was standing next to a leak that spurted a stream of water straight out from the wall.
From "The City of Ember" by Jeanne DuPrau
"We saw walls collapsing, the floors opening up. And then water and mud began spurting up from underneath the flooring."
From Barron's ● Jun. 9, 2026
His paintings of erupting fountains, spurting fireworks and splashing bathers make you feel a cool summer breeze in the middle of a packed fair space.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 27, 2026
The ground even opened up, spurting sand out along a zigzagging 100-foot-long stretch of a University of Washington a football field.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 29, 2024
The second was Olivia Rodrigo, who nailed the vertiginous high notes that punctuate her rock-operatic smash “Vampire,” and then riffed on the song’s theme as she smeared herself with spurting fake blood.
From New York Times ● Feb. 5, 2024
No artery was spurting, but Yossarian pretended to absorb himself entirely into the fashioning of a tourniquet, because applying a tourniquet was something he did know how to do.
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
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.
