stammer
Americanverb (used without object)
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stammers,
present (3rd person singular)
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stammered,
past participle, past
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stammering
present participle
verb (used with object)
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stammers,
present (3rd person singular)
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stammered,
past participle, past
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stammering
present participle
noun
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stammers
plural
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a stammering mode of utterance.
-
a stammered utterance.
verb
noun
Usage
What does stammer mean? To stammer is to speak with involuntary breaks or pauses or involuntarily repeated words or parts of words. In text, it is often represented with hyphens, as in s-s-s-safe to represent a struggle to pronounce the s- sound. A stammer is a way of speaking with a stammer, as in Kim spoke with a stammer, but it didn’t define him. To stammer is also to say something with a stammer, as in Lawrence was so nervous during his presentation that he stammered out the first part of his speech. Stutter is a synonym of stammer and is preferred in technical usage. Example: Everytime we have to present to the board, I get so nervous that I start to stammer.
Synonym Usage
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 Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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stammersimple
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stammerssimple
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have stammeredperfect
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has stammeredperfect
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am stammeringprogressive
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are stammeringprogressive
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is stammeringprogressive
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have been stammeringperfect progressive
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has been stammeringperfect progressive
Past
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stammeredsimple
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had stammeredperfect
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was stammeringprogressive
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were stammeringprogressive
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had been stammeringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of stammer
First recorded before 1000; Middle English verb stammeren, Old English stamerian (cognate with German stammern ), equivalent to stam “stammering” + -erian -er 6; akin to Old Norse stamma “to stammer,” Gothic stams “stammering”
Explanation
To stammer — or to have a stammer — is to speak haltingly and to have trouble getting the words out. A stammer is also called a "stutter." Stammering (or stuttering) has a couple of related meanings. A stammer is a serious problem for some people who have great difficulty speaking. They have trouble getting the words out, and their language does not flow. They might get stuck repeating one sound over and over again. This is a difficult problem to overcome. However, we all stammer sometimes, often because we're confused, scared, tired, or unsure of what to say.
Vocabulary lists containing stammer
"My Favorite Chaperone," Vocabulary from the short story
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Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
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Achievement First 6th Grade IA 1 Words
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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:
Hansen would then make a dramatic entrance and interrogate the men, who would often stammer and bumble through the encounter before leaving.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 27, 2026
Now, Gellar has made a more ceremonious return, albeit with a frustrating stop-and-start stammer.
From Salon ● Mar. 26, 2026
Jessie Stride, another contestant on this series of The Traitors, has a stammer and spoke on the show about struggling to pronounce her own name.
From BBC ● Jan. 22, 2026
Joe Dilling, a physiotherapy technical instructor from St Athan, Vale of Glamorgan, has had a stammer since he was six-years-old.
From BBC ● Jan. 12, 2026
“I—I want to be your knight,” I stammer.
From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black
Hayley said people with stammers were often mocked or villainised in the media and sometimes portrayed as having them as a result of trauma.
From BBC ● Jan. 12, 2026
Britt stammers in response: “I don’t always—you know, yes, I cook Sunday nights for dinner, but I was about to say, I don’t always crush it.”
From Slate ● Dec. 18, 2025
“I … I … I can’t ….go to work,” one stammers in German.
From Seattle Times ● May 28, 2024
Ray Fisher incarnates, with natural majesty, the brawn and bravado of Muhammad Ali; Edwin Lee Gibson shambles and stammers as Stepin Fetchit while retaining the dignity of a canny survivor.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 27, 2023
“What? What are you talking about?” he stammers as he scrambles out to face me.
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
He stammered through hastily filmed videos asking for small-dollar donations as his campaign sought to convert the new interest around him into donors.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 1, 2026
The clip featured influencer Jessie Yendle struggling to pronounce a sound as she stammered, before the repetition transitioned into the start of a popular TikTok dance track playing over footage of striker Serhou Guirassy.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2025
“I don’t think the American people are watching and thinking any of these people won,” Watters stammered out.
From Slate ● Sep. 11, 2024
Often speaking in Tajik through a translator, he answered questions about his biography quietly and stammered, according to Mediazona.
From New York Times ● Mar. 24, 2024
“But, um, can—” Mini stammered as she stared yearningly at the headband.
From "Aru Shah and the End of Time" by Roshani Chokshi
Smith, as you might expect, was confused by this line of questioning, stammering that he didn’t recall attending any Hawks games.
From Slate ● Sep. 29, 2026
This sends the oh-so-polite Higgins into a stammering fit: “Not similar. Sorry. What happened here was much worse. Much, much worse. Much, much, much, much, much, I can’t stop saying much for some reason.”
From Salon ● Aug. 7, 2026
But this stammering, rather dull chap doesn’t come across as a genius.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 25, 2025
After one of his sketches, the actual Sid Caesar might ever so briefly, in a stammering voice, appear before a commercial break to say: “We’ll be right back.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025
“Oh, well, actually, it’s not her cells being put into people’s eyes,” I said, stammering.
From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
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.
