expectorating

verb

present participle of expectorate
1
as in spitting

Related Words

Relevance
2
as in blowing (out)

Related Words

Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for expectorating
  1. spitting
  2. expelling
  3. exhaling
Verb
  • The team could use another forward as Luis Suarez is suspended for all six Leagues Cup games as the penalty for spitting on a Seattle Sounders official during last year’s tournament final.
    — Michelle Kaufman August 7, Miami Herald, 7 Aug. 2026
  • Starship is designed to launch 60 Starlink V3 satellites at a time, spitting them out through a slit-like payload bay door like a giant PEZ candy dispenser.
    — Tariq Malik, Space.com, 25 July 2026
Definition of spitting
Verb
  • But sometimes, some corals on a reef bleach while others don’t, and in other cases corals under heat stress die without expelling their algae.
    — Marlowe Starling, Quanta Magazine, 5 Aug. 2026
  • Sánchez, who leads the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, touted his country's quick turnaround in expelling nearly all of the 50,000-60,000 migrants who crossed the border back to Morocco.
    — Robert McGreevy, FOXNews.com, 1 Aug. 2026
Definition of expelling
Verb
  • Hubbard and his family can be heard exhaling as soon as the hook was dislodged.
    — Amaris Encinas, USA Today, 28 July 2026
  • Take 30 to 40 deep cyclical breaths, inhaling fully into the belly and chest, exhaling without force.
    — Allison Palmer, Kansas City Star, 28 May 2026
Definition of exhaling
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

expectorates
expectorating
expectoration
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Expectorating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/expectorating. Accessed 14 Aug. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of vacuous

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

7 Pairs of Commonly Confused Words

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Words from the 'Odyssey'

The Longest Long Words List

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

The Words of the Week - Aug. 14

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Words from the 'Odyssey'

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
image of a green cube out of place in a lineup of red spheres
Odd Word Out: Synonyms Vol. 2 Quiz Figure out which word isn't like the others.
See All