What does "spew" mean?
Vomit.
Spew
/spjuː/ noun, verb, slang
noun, verb, slang ·Common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Vomit.
- Grammar: spew is listed as noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: barf, barf, barfed, barfs.
- Useful contrasts: absorb, absorption, contain.
- Usage evidence: Our solar-system neighbors have ice mountains, frigid, liquid methane lakes, volcanoes that spew poisonous sulfur dioxide, and a colossal canyon as long as the continental U.S.
How to use "spew"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "spew" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "spew" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "spew" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "spew" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "spew" is acting as noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "barf" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "spew", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Vomit. slang, uncountable, usually
"Just after you've din'd, take a dish that is large, And into it what you have eaten discharge; Then get all the rest that are at the table, to spew in the same as long as they're able; Let them strain very hard, 'till all is brought up, For the more spew there is, the better the soup;"
- 2 Ejaculate or ejaculation. slang, uncountable, usually
"Sea urchins, for example, release between ten and one hundred billion sperm with every ejaculation. That's two orders of magnitude more than the few hundred million sperm per spew an average human bloke can dish out."
- 3 Nonsense or lies. uncountable, usually
"First thing you gotta have is some sort of confounding unfounded prejudicial spew and contrived agenda aimed at humanity."
- 4 Material that has been ejected in a stream, or the act of spewing. uncountable, usually
"He felt the flimsy canvas yield without a whisper, devoured by the roaring bull of the truck, and the whiskey bottles shattered in a spew of brownish chaos, asparkle with the light, blown this way and that by the big vehicle's velocity."
- 5 A white powder or dark crystals that appear on the surface of improperly tanned leather. uncountable, usually
"Most men familiar with the handling of leather must occasionally have come across samples showing a whitish scum, or spew, upon the surface."
Show 1 more definition
- 6 Adhesive that is squeezed from a joint under pressure and held across the joint by a fillet, thereby strengthening the joint. uncountable, usually
"The spew is represented by a triangular fillet 0.5 mm high. It can be seen that, because of the predominance of the major principal stress, the adhesive at the ends of the adhesive layer and in the spew fillet is essentially subjected to a tensile load at about 45° to the axis of loading. The highest stresses occur within the spew at the corner of the unloaded adherend, the presence of the 90° corner introducing a stress-concentration effect."
Verb
- 1 To eject forcibly and in a stream, transitive
"But you get to the beach via monorail and you get to the sand and look out to the ocean and all you see is oil tankers and factories spewing smoke on the horizon. It was like some sort of futuristic dystopia."
- 2 eject the contents of the stomach through the mouth wordnet
- 3 To be forcibly ejected. intransitive
"The blow is not as severe as those to his leg. It is meant only to break, not crush. Blood and internal fluids spew from his nose."
- 4 eject or send out in large quantities, also metaphorical wordnet
- 5 To speak or write quickly and voluminously, especially words that are not worth listening to or reading. transitive
"Set such a program running and it will continue to spew out sentences until you shut it down."
Show 5 more definitions
- 6 expel or eject (saliva or phlegm or sputum) from the mouth wordnet
- 7 To be written or spoken voluminously. intransitive
"The lies continued to spew forth."
- 8 To vomit. informal, intransitive
"Bleeding gums an' no saliva can make your partner spew."
- 9 To ejaculate. intransitive
"I rise at eleven, I dine about two, I get drunk before seven, and the next thing I do; I send for my whore, when for fear of a clap, I spend in her hand, and I spew in her lap"
- 10 To develop a white powder or dark crystals on the surface of finished leather, as a result from improper tanning. intransitive
"The spewing or moulding of upper leather is something that causes considerable annoyance."
Synonyms
All synonymsAntonyms
Example
"Our solar-system neighbors have ice mountains, frigid, liquid methane lakes, volcanoes that spew poisonous sulfur dioxide, and a colossal canyon as long as the continental U.S."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "spew"?
Common synonyms include: barf, barf, barfed, barfs, be seasick, be sick.
How do you use "spew" in a sentence?
Our solar-system neighbors have ice mountains, frigid, liquid methane lakes, volcanoes that spew poisonous sulfur dioxide, and a colossal canyon as long as the continental U.S.
How do you pronounce "spew"?
Pronounced /spjuː/.
Etymology
From Middle English spewen, from Old English spīwan, from Proto-West Germanic *spīwan, from Proto-Germanic *spīwaną, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ptyēw- (“to spit, vomit”). Germanic cognates include English spit, West Frisian spije, Dutch spuien, Dutch spuwen, Low German speen, spiien, German speien (“to spew, spit, vomit”), Swedish spy, Danish spy, Faroese spýggja, Gothic 𐍃𐍀𐌴𐌹𐍅𐌰𐌽 (speiwan). Also cognate, through Indo-European, with Latin spuō (“spit”, verb), Ancient Greek πτύω (ptúō, “spit, vomit”), Albanian fyt (“throat”), Armenian թուք (tʻukʻ), Russian плева́ть (plevátʹ), Persian تف (tof), Sanskrit ष्ठीवति (ṣṭhī́vati).