To spatter means to scatter or splash small drops of liquid in different directions. When you wash dishes and accidentally spatter soapy water across the counter, or when rain spatters against your bedroom window, you're seeing this word in action.

The word captures both the action and the result: you can spatter paint on a canvas (what you do), or notice spatters of mud on your shoes after walking through puddles (what's left behind). Artists sometimes spatter paint deliberately to create interesting effects, flicking their brushes to send tiny droplets flying. Cooks know that frying bacon will spatter hot grease, which is why they stand back from the stove.

Spatter suggests something messy and uncontrolled, with drops landing randomly rather than in one neat spot. It's different from a solid splash: when you belly-flop into a pool, that's a splash. But the little drops that fly up and land on the deck? Those are spatters.