stammer
[stam-er]
- to speak with involuntary breaks and pauses, or with spasmodic repetitions of syllables or sounds.
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- to say with a stammer (often followed by out).
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- a stammering mode of utterance.
- a stammered utterance.
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Origin of stammer
before 1000; Middle English stammeren (v.), Old English stamerian (cognate with German stammern), equivalent to stam stammering + -erian -er6; akin to Old Norse stamma to stammer, Gothic stams stammering
Synonyms
See more synonyms for stammer on Thesaurus.com1. pause, hesitate, falter. Stammer, stutter mean to speak with some form of difficulty. Stammer, the general term, suggests a speech difficulty 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 so deep-seated as to require special treatment for its correction. Stutter, the parallel term preferred in technical usage, designates a broad range of defects 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.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for stammer
Contemporary Examples
All she could stammer, however, was, “It would be an honor.”
As an adult, I have heard people affecting a stammer or a stutter.
This was the unhappy and astonishing birth of my stammer or at least my first gripping self-conscious awareness of it.
But I also had an index in the back of my diary that explained that famul meant stutter of stammer.
Historical Examples
But the wish to laugh had returned, and made her stammer, interrupting her at each word.
The DreamEmile Zola
He backed, and began to stammer an apology; but she did not wait to hear a word of it.
Good IndianB. M. Bower
He was alone, beside himself, with livid face and scarce able to stammer.
FruitfulnessEmile Zola
The best he could do was to stammer a hope that she would not be obliged to sell the house.
Galusha the MagnificentJoseph C. Lincoln
Her "guess" was so close to the truth that I could only stammer and hesitate.
The Rise of Roscoe PaineJoseph C. Lincoln
stammer
- to speak or say (something) in a hesitant way, esp as a result of a speech disorder or through fear, stress, etc
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- a speech disorder characterized by involuntary repetitions and hesitations
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Word Origin
Old English stamerian; related to Old Saxon stamarōn, Old High German stamm
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for stammer
v.
Old English stamerian, from West Germanic *stamrojan (cf. Old Norse stammr, Old High German stam, Gothic stamms "stammering," Middle Dutch stameren, German stammeln "to stammer," Old Frisian and German stumm "dumb"), from PIE root *stam-, *stum- "check, impede" (see stem (v.)).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
stammer
(stăm′ər)- A speech disorder characterized by hesitation and repetition of sounds, or by mispronunciation or transposition of certain consonants, especially l, r, and s.
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- To speak with a stammer.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.