How to Use stammer in a Sentence
stammer
verb- He stammered an excuse and fled.
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The New York Times offers a critique: Kennedy starts strong but then stumbles and stammers a bit.
—John Johnson, Fox News, 12 May 2017
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The young actor broke down in tears before stammering out his thank yous to the Venice jury.
—Alex Ritman, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 Sep. 2023
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When Freeze was asked about the talent gap between Auburn and some of the the leaders in the league, he was left tiptoeing and stammering.
—Ainslie Lee | Alee@al.com, al, 24 July 2023
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Members of the audience stammered in response and some shook their heads in video from the board meeting.
—Nathan Solis, Los Angeles Times, 6 June 2023
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Sure, the weaker part of me will hustle along and stammer out apologies on arrival.
—James Parker, The Atlantic, 11 Feb. 2022
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What at first looks like a lifeless brown grid begins to vibrate; thin lines stammer their way from one side of the canvas to the other.
—Jackson Arn, The New Yorker, 7 Aug. 2023
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The witnesses who take the stand are nervous, stammering.
—Jennifer Wilson, The New Yorker, 24 July 2023
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A weeknight performance had its flubs — actors stammering and at one point needing a line prompt from the tech crew just to keep things on track.
—Matthew J. Palm, OrlandoSentinel.com, 24 May 2017
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But even if that was the case, why would Rubio upload such a stammering video of himself looking clueless about hip hop?
—Terrell Jermaine Starr, The Root, 16 June 2018
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Chris refutes this, stammering his way through a defense.
—Rebecca Farley, refinery29.com, 3 July 2018
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Hahn makes a winning klutz, stammering and bumping into things.
—Alexandra Schwartz, The New Yorker, 15 May 2017
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Hugh Grant There is room in this show's sprawling universe for a charming, stammering, slightly disheveled rake, isn't there?
—Dave Holmes, Esquire, 18 July 2017
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Otherwise, the couple’s awkward, stammering meet-cute is pure Woody Allen.
—Armond White, National Review, 5 Apr. 2024
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Daddy was just helping mommy look for broken light bulbs,' my husband stammered.
—Charlotte Hilton Andersen, Redbook, 11 Sep. 2017
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In an interview, Mr. Rodriguez tried to describe the fight, but stammered and fell silent several times before beginning to cry.
—Dave Philipps, New York Times, 18 Oct. 2017
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The man who confidently stammered into fame as Ian Malcolm returns in the latest installment, still fresh off playing one of the best villains in years in Thor: Ragnarok.
—Luke Darby, GQ, 19 June 2018
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But their exit plan goes awry, leaving the guests, in an extremely awkward confrontation, to stammer through a vague explanation of all the little things that have felt wrong since their arrival.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 2 Feb. 2022
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Yet Boudreau, who won more than 400 games and eight division titles in nine seasons as the coach of Washington and Anaheim, stammered when asked if Hitchcock was right about experience.
—Pat Borzi, New York Times, 22 Feb. 2017
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Inaba stammered before voting to save Karamo and Jenna.
—Bryan Alexander, USA TODAY, 29 Oct. 2019
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In that conversation, recorded by investigators, Jones stammered and did not give a clear answer.
—Pauline Repard, sandiegouniontribune.com, 8 Mar. 2018
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Boys were depicted as socially awkward, blushing, stammering, and accident-prone, while girls were giggly and boy-crazy.
—Michael Cart, Smithsonian, 7 May 2018
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Her future husband was among the musicians leading the bossa nova movement, using a style known as violão gago, or stammering guitar.
—Brian Murphy, Washington Post, 6 June 2023
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What seemed episodic in 2017 now comes across as a taut dramatic arc, the text sometimes stylized — characters tend to stammer repetitions of key lines — but the storytelling clear, lean and always supported by the agile music.
—New York Times, 15 May 2022
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Shortly after the afternoon newscast, competing points of views on what Morris said while stammering during the newscast hit social media.
—Stephanie Toone, ajc, 27 Jan. 2020
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Coldplay has become a band defined by polish, but viewers here got quite the opposite: Martin in a fisherman’s sweater and beanie, fragile-seeming and stammering nervously into the camera.
—Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 21 Mar. 2020
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The loquacious linebacker often stammered when answering questions on sensitive topics, and those questions often had to do with his decreased playing time.
—Jeff McLane, Philly.com, 23 May 2018
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Barry Yeoman, a man with a lifelong stutter, suggests that while society mostly views a stutter as a disability, stammering really isn’t the problem at all.
—Krista Stevens, Longreads, 8 Nov. 2019
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As Alceste, Elliott Kashner fumes and stammers with disgust, often while dangling a couplet’s final word for comic effect.
—Nelson Pressley, Washington Post, 5 June 2019
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Jimmy Stewart never was, stammering, humble appearances to the contrary.
—Rondi Adamson, WSJ, 24 Aug. 2017
Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'stammer.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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