splat
noun · verb
Simple meaning
The sharp, atonal sound of a liquid or soft solid hitting a solid surface.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
splatIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈsplæt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The sharp, atonal sound of a liquid or soft solid hitting a solid surface.
The irregular shape of a viscous liquid or soft solid which has hit a solid surface.
A children's game in which one person, in the centre of a circle of players, points and says "SPLAT!" at another player. That player then ducks down and the two players either side of them point and say "SPLAT!". The slowest to react is and eliminated from the game. The final is settled by a Mexican standoff.
A move in playboating involving stalling in place while positioned vertically against a solid object in the water.
The narrow wooden centre piece of a chair back.
The asterisk *
verb
intransitive
To hit a flat surface and deform into an irregular shape.
transitive
To splatter.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The sharp, atonal sound of a liquid or soft solid hitting a solid surface.
Used this way, splat is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use splat
- “He heard a splat as it hit the floor.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
The noise of something spattering or sputtering explosively.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.