From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishstammerstam‧mer1 /ˈstæmə $ -ər/ verb [intransitive, transitive] SPEAK A LANGUAGEto speak with a lot of pauses and repeated sounds, either because you have a speech problem, or because you are nervous, excited etc SYN stutter Whenever he was angry, he would begin to stammer slightly. Ben stammered out an apology.► see thesaurus at say —stammerer noun [countable]→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
stammer• Patterson often stammered during speeches.• Forgive me, he stammered, if I press when I should not.• Now, she stammered in his presence, gone the blustery Trudy her girlfriends knew.• Benjamin stammered out an apologetic request - how he would appreciate it if no one else was told about our visit.• Labour voices have been stammering to oblige.stammerstammer2 noun [countable usually singular] MISPEAK A LANGUAGEa speech problem which makes someone speak with a lot of pauses and repeated sounds SYN stutter Jeff spoke with a slight stammer.Examples from the Corpus
stammer• Rivers was a shy, reticent man hampered by a stammer.• He had even developed the beginnings of a stammer.• It went back to her childhood when she had been teased by her schoolmates about her stammer.• "G-g-get up, " she said with a slight stammer.• The stammer fitted Marlowe's embarrassment and Bernard got a very good press.• Speech therapy teaches people different techniques enabling them to control their stammer and help them in conversation.Origin stammer1 Old English stamerian 