What's the difference between smattering and spattering?
Smattering
Definition:
(n.) A slight, superficial knowledge of something; sciolism.
Example Sentences:
(1) The debut of the film – before an audience of business journalists, film critics and a smattering of Wonga customers – comes before a grilling by MPs in Westminster on Tuesday as calls grow for tighter curbs on payday lenders.
(2) The trophic value of a food cannot be ascertained from food composition tables because only a smattering of the necessary information is commonly furnished.
(3) They've heard the views of a smattering of North Kivu's humanitarians, politicians, businessmen, civil society types and militia leaders.
(4) Nothing but plain text and links, it features a smattering of links from across the web as well as personal selections by various staff of active Kickstarter projects.
(5) As ever, there were a smattering of terrifyingly young GCSE students celebrating their successes.
(6) The village is a smattering of fishing shacks frequented by stray dogs and chickens; the sand is littered with sweet wrappers, water bottles, flip-flops and polystyrene food containers; the sea is cloudy from the dredging.
(7) In the face of such uncertainty, a smattering of refugees remained camped on the Hungarian border.
(8) There were MPs (Hilary Benn and family), a smattering of celebs, a lot of public sector workers, Unison stewards in smart purple smocks.
(9) Now the party, which has been dogged by allegations of financial mismanagement , has just a smattering of local councillors, and experts say that by May the UK could be "BNP-free" for the first time in a decade if Griffin fails to retain his seat in the European parliamentary elections.
(10) Its existing city centre has a smattering of empty shops at the foot of neglected Victorian buildings, and is noticeably short on big chains.
(11) That may represent a tiny fraction of the industry’s estimated sales of recorded music, but still, a means of listening to music essentially invented in the 19th century and long since presumed to be dead is growing at speed, and the presses at Optimal – along with similar facilities smattered across the UK, mainland Europe, the US and beyond – are set to grind and pump on, into the future.
(12) Many heartland supporters have already defected, and a smattering of leading trade unionists and Labour socialists have professed reluctant support for yes.
(13) Now they are smattered with artists' showrooms and craft workshops.
(14) It’s like a real-life computer game, with the extra dramatic dimension that if you crash you can’t just reboot,” he said, as a smattering of drone groupies pressed up against the barriers to eavesdrop on their hero.
(15) The former Murdoch editors Andrew Neil, David Yelland, Harold Evans and Colin Myler were all criticised personally, as were a smattering of lawyers such as Tom Crone .
(16) ‘Like the poshest hostage video ever’: our columnists on the Queen’s speech | Panel Read more The programme was also smattered with consumer-friendly pledges, from rolling out high-speed broadband nationwide and making it easier to switch energy supplier, to allowing local authorities to force bus firms to run more frequent services.
(17) There was a smattering of boos from the home supporters who had stayed to the final whistle.
(18) His grandmother was a leading communist, his father, Edward, a Labour voter and assistant director of education for West Sussex (before piggybacking on his son's success to become a well known broadcaster in his own right) while Enfield has always been a bit of a political maverick – liberal with a smattering of Catholic conservatism (though he's pretty much had it with God), and libertarianism (he loves a good hunt).
(19) Such is the "Red" part of his thinking, and the reason why his smattering of Tory fans often seem to be far outnumbered by hostile Thatcherites; as one Labour figure recently put it, "a Red Tory revolution would certainly need much blue blood to be spilled."
(20) I’d say to all of you please, judge us by our performance, not by our titles.” Abbott’s speech, which drew a smattering of applause from the audience, provoked a mixed reaction.
Spattering
Definition:
(p. pr. & vb. n.) of Spatter
Example Sentences:
(1) Tarantino’s blood-spattered, race-themed western was in fact his biggest hit, taking $425m worldwide.
(2) Inside, the white pillars in the big empty atrium were spattered with blood, and splintered wood and broken chairs hinted at the violence of the three-hour battle.
(3) In the early spring, Atlantic rollers pound the beach while gulls strut in rain-spattered tidal pools.
(4) I recall his guano-spattered union jack frock coat, designed by Alexander McQueen, on the cover of his 1997 drum'n'bass record Earthling.
(5) An experiment at the same Moscow facility in 1999 descended into chaos when a Russian captain forced a kiss on a female Canadian crew member, and two other Russians got drunk and ended up in a fist fight that left blood spattered over the capsule walls.
(6) In Muslim areas, the flag appeared in leaflets in a blood-spattered montage of Tony Blair and George Bush and troops in Iraq, while underneath it she played to religious homophobia by claiming that Labour was allowing children to be propositioned for homosexual relationships.
(7) However, the team still found blood from the attack spattered on some walls and ceilings and also brought back bullet casings that matched weapons Bales was reported to have carried, and fabric that matched a blanket prosecutors say he wore as a cape.
(8) The receipts are being published not merely too late, but also after being liberally spattered with a black marker pen in a way that covers up all the worst crimes.
(9) A central square was left spattered with blood after baton-wielding police dispersed crowds.
(10) As a shell blasted through the wall, showering occupants with shrapnel and spattering blood on walls and floors, Amna Zantit, 31, scrambled to gather up her three terrified infants in a panicked bid for the relative safety of the schoolyard.
(11) "Given that it's usually around 45-50 minutes long, I always presumed you waxed lyrical for many hours talking about everything from Boney M to punching wildlife, with a spattering of football in between, and producer Ben chopped it all down to 45 mintues of football chat.
(12) Sign up for our film masterclasses Xan Brooks tentatively enters through cinema's blood-spattered back door as he looks for some truly terrifying thrils in cinema's tawdriest genre Photograph: guardian.co.uk Join us to explore the wonder of cinematography at our second Guardian film masterclass .
(13) After the press conference, St Louis County police department shared pictures of the officer’s blood-spattered face mask.
(14) Its crew found Baby P already stiff and blue in his blood-spattered cot.
(15) (I find it useful to cover the pot with an inexpensive spatter screen to catch any spattering chilli.)
(16) • A defence witness called to dispute the state’s version of how Steenkamp was killed was labelled “irresponsible” by Nel, who pointed out that Roger Dixon was not trained in ballistics, light, sound or blood spatter evidence .
(17) As to Scarfe's cartoon specifically, it seems to me almost identical to every other blood-spattered pictorial lament for man's inhumanity to man he's knocked out over the past 40 years.
(18) It was early March and snow was still spattered on the leaf mould between the firs and larches.
(19) The prosecutor also said blood spatter evidence indicated that the athlete's statement about the location of a duvet in the bedroom was false.
(20) Pro-government media quickly published graphic pictures of the blood-spattered bodies of the five dead Egyptians – Tarek Saad Abdel Fattah, 52; his son Saad Tarek Saad, 26; his son-in-law Salah Ali Sayed, 40; Mostafa Bakr, 60; and Farouk.