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utter
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
utter
I.adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
absolute/utter disgrace
It’s an absolute disgrace, the way he treats his wife.
complete/total/absolute/utter silence
▪ They sat in complete silence.
▪ The silence in the room was absolute.
complete/total/utter confusion
▪ Candy's eyes showed her total confusion.
complete/total/utter failure
▪ The project ended in total failure.
let out/utter a cry
▪ Seeing the fields and mountains, she let out a cry of delight.
utter a prayerformal (= say a prayer)
▪ When she recovered, she uttered a prayer of thanks.
utter chaos (=total chaos)
▪ After the party, the whole house was in utter chaos.
utter/absolute nonsense (=complete nonsense)
▪ He said that the charges against him were absolute nonsense.
utter/total contempt
▪ Sally looked at him with utter contempt.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
chaos
▪ But when she entered the house, she was confronted by a scene of utter chaos.
▪ I went to rejoin the train and it was utter chaos.
▪ It looked like utter chaos to me, but organised chaos.
▪ She sat on the bed looking at the utter chaos around her.
confusion
▪ To another it might have seemed utter confusion, but Chen had been born here.
▪ It was total and utter confusion.
▪ At times these difficulties combined with a muddled administrative situation to produce utter confusion and dismay.
contempt
▪ Shortly after shooting them, Conroy displayed utter contempt for his two victims, the court heard.
▪ Having won their votes from the gullible, as well as the dedicated, the republicans now show their utter contempt for democracy.
▪ Treat him with the utter contempt he deserves.
▪ Despite the profit-making prospects in this it has been treated with utter contempt on the grounds that charity begins at home.
failure
▪ On the face of it they were an utter failure.
▪ By his own criteria it was an utter failure.
nonsense
▪ Still, he posed several questions that he said proved the plaintiffs' case was utter nonsense.
silence
▪ To go on with the utter silence or to break the silence, pretending nothing had happened.
▪ When designer Rei Kawakubo tucks pillows under blouses and shows her collection in utter silence, simple clothes become disconcerting theater.
▪ He had gone from shouting to silence, utter silence, and had walked out of the house.
▪ The utter silence fell like a loud explosion.
▪ We padded through those quiet, leafy roads in utter silence.
▪ The young people were draped about the furniture or lay in couples on the floor in utter silence whilst the firelight flickered.
▪ But for the occasional bitow to the rear of the crowd, the Swan was a vacuum of utter silence.
▪ For a moment there was utter silence.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ A specific point of view of a space, in a fleeting moment of time, could be held in utter stillness.
▪ He was forced to return to the earth alone, in utter desolation.
▪ Hence the complete and utter mental breakdown of whoever contracts the disease.
▪ Instead he would gaze at the jury, his face an impassive study in utter disbelief.
▪ She treated herself with what seemed like utter severity.
▪ They were ... yes I now concede, complete and utter bozos.
▪ We padded through those quiet, leafy roads in utter silence.
▪ When designer Rei Kawakubo tucks pillows under blouses and shows her collection in utter silence, simple clothes become disconcerting theater.
II.verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
cry
▪ The cat crouched uneasily in her arms, then uttered a curious low cry and struggled free.
▪ Finally he made a noise, and Maritza turned around, uttered a little cry of thanks, and took the tissue.
▪ Gilbert uttered a strangled cry and leapt to his feet with shadow reflections of crawling rain on his spectrally white face.
▪ She uttered a great cry which reached up to the gods.
▪ She put her hand to her mouth, uttered a mourning cry and ran through the swing door to her car.
▪ Suddenly Dad uttered a sharp cry and staggered backwards, slumping against the wall.
▪ When it arrived, they uttered a great cry of welcome.
▪ The whole earth uttered a great cry.
name
▪ He would not utter those names lightly.
▪ A moment later Charlie heard the colonel utter the name of Captain Guy Trentham.
▪ It gave her infinite pleasure simply to utter Joss Barnet's name.
phrase
▪ Meanwhile, those garrulous starlets who utter a quotable phrase almost every time they open their mouths are few and far between.
▪ When they do utter word phrases, they tend to omit the verb endings, most pronouns, and the conjunctions.
sentence
▪ On second thoughts, she wished she had not uttered the last sentence.
▪ In order to utter meaningful sentences I must come to grasp my position as a speaker.
▪ She could not utter a sentence for giving a tinkle of value to some innocent word.
sound
▪ Paul Reichmann threw up his hands in protest at the suggestion, but did not utter a sound.
▪ With that he killed man after man, so skillfully that not one uttered a sound as he died.
▪ Dauntless merely uttered a gibbering sound and abandoned the argument.
▪ When she saw the car Irina uttered an extraordinary sound, a long raucous rapturous cry.
word
▪ Jed began to know where Creed wanted to go without a word being uttered.
▪ The first word I ever uttered was good-bye.
▪ Speechreading develops a sensitive awareness of the speaker, not merely of the words he utters.
▪ The magic words had been uttered.
▪ These words, uttered by Baron Parke in an 1848 case, still hold good today.
▪ Insolent words uttered in the arrogant consciousness of power were always heard in heaven and always punished.
▪ Day after day reels of tape slowly turn, recording every word uttered along these lines of communication.
▪ Try these strategies to prevent these words from ever being uttered:-First, make all rules absolutely clear!
■ VERB
hear
▪ A moment later Charlie heard the colonel utter the name of Captain Guy Trentham.
▪ According to his lawyer, Brooks claims he heard some one utter the N-word, so he stepped on the gas.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ No one had ever heard Thomas utter an unkind word.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ But as they passed him, their eyes and gestures... silently declared what their lips were forbidden to utter.
▪ I am not free to utter any fancied measurements I please.
▪ I we pointed out that deictic elements of the utterances can only be interpreted with respect to the context in which they are uttered.
▪ Speechreading develops a sensitive awareness of the speaker, not merely of the words he utters.
▪ The peasants, having just come out to the fields, turn back, uttering loud cries.
▪ When he did utter a word or two, rarely, his voice was coarse and stern.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Utter

Utter \Ut"ter\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Uttered; p. pr. & vb. n. Uttering.] [OE. outren, freq. of outen to utter, put out, AS. [=u]tian to put out, eject, fr. [=u]t out. [root]198. See Out, and cf. Utter, a.]

  1. To put forth or out; to reach out. [Obs.]

    How bragly [proudly] it begins to bud, And utter his tender head.
    --Spenser.

  2. To dispose of in trade; to sell or vend. [Obs.]

    Such mortal drugs I have, but Mantua's law Is death to any he that utters them.
    --Shak.

    They bring it home, and utter it commonly by the name of Newfoundland fish.
    --Abp. Abbot.

  3. hence, to put in circulation, as money; to put off, as currency; to cause to pass in trade; -- often used, specifically, of the issue of counterfeit notes or coins, forged or fraudulent documents, and the like; as, to utter coin or bank notes.

    The whole kingdom should continue in a firm resolution never to receive or utter this fatal coin.
    --Swift.

  4. To give public expression to; to disclose; to publish; to speak; to pronounce. ``Sweet as from blest, uttering joy.''
    --Milton.

    The words I utter Let none think flattery, for they 'll find 'em truth.
    --Shak.

    And the last words he uttered called me cruel.
    --Addison.

    Syn: To deliver; give forth; issue; liberate; discharge; pronounce. See Deliver.

Utter

Utter \Ut"ter\, a. [OE. utter, originally the same word as outer. See Out, and cf. Outer, Utmost.]

  1. Outer. ``Thine utter eyen.''
    --Chaucer. [Obs.] ``By him a shirt and utter mantle laid.''
    --Chapman.

    As doth an hidden moth The inner garment fret, not th' utter touch.
    --Spenser.

  2. Situated on the outside, or extreme limit; remote from the center; outer. [Obs.]

    Through utter and through middle darkness borne.
    --Milton.

    The very utter part pf Saint Adelmes point is five miles from Sandwich.
    --Holinshed.

  3. Complete; perfect; total; entire; absolute; as, utter ruin; utter darkness.

    They . . . are utter strangers to all those anxious thoughts which disquiet mankind.
    --Atterbury.

  4. Peremptory; unconditional; unqualified; final; as, an utter refusal or denial.
    --Clarendon.

    Utter bar (Law), the whole body of junior barristers. See Outer bar, under 1st Outer. [Eng.]

    Utter barrister (Law), one recently admitted as barrister, who is accustomed to plead without, or outside, the bar, as distinguished from the benchers, who are sometimes permitted to plead within the bar. [Eng.]
    --Cowell.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
utter

Old English utera, uterra, "outer, exterior, external," from Proto-Germanic *utizon (cognates: Old Norse utar, Old Frisian uttra, Middle Dutch utere, Dutch uiter-, Old High German uzar, German äußer "outer"), comparative adjective from ut (see out (adv.)). Meaning "complete, total" (i.e. "going to the utmost point") is from early 15c.

utter

"speak, say," c.1400, in part from Middle Dutch uteren or Middle Low German utern "to turn out, show, speak," from uter "outer," comparative adjective from ut "out" (see utter (adj.)); in part from Middle English verb outen "to disclose," from Old English utan "to put out," from ut (see out (v.)). Compare German äussern "to utter, express," from aus "out;" and colloquial phrase out with it "speak up!" Formerly also used as a commercial verb (as release is now). Related: Uttered; uttering.

Wiktionary
utter

Etymology 1

  1. 1 (context now poetic literary English) outer; furthest out, most remote. (from 10th c.) 2 (context obsolete English) outward. (13th–16th c.) 3 absolute, unconditional, total, complete. (from 15th c.) Etymology 2

    v

  2. 1 (context transitive English) To say 2 (context transitive English) To use the voice 3 (context transitive English) To make speech sounds which may or may not have an actual language involved 4 (context transitive English) To make (a noise) 5 (context legal transitive English) To put counterfeit money, ''et

  3. '', into circulation Etymology 3

    adv. (label en obsolete) Further out; further away, outside.

WordNet
utter
  1. adj. without qualification; used informally as (often pejorative) intensifiers; "an arrant fool"; "a complete coward"; "a consummate fool"; "a double-dyed villain"; "gross negligence"; "a perfect idiot"; "pure folly"; "what a sodding mess"; "stark staring mad"; "a thoroughgoing villain"; "utter nonsense" [syn: arrant(a), complete(a), consummate(a), double-dyed(a), everlasting(a), gross(a), perfect(a), pure(a), sodding(a), stark(a), staring(a), thoroughgoing(a), utter(a)]

  2. total; "dead silence"; "utter seriousness" [syn: dead(a), utter(a)]

utter
  1. v. articulate; either verbally or with a cry, shout, or noise; "She expressed her anger"; "He uttered a curse" [syn: express, verbalize, verbalise, give tongue to]

  2. express audibly; utter sounds (not necessarily words); "She let out a big heavy sigh"; "He uttered strange sounds that nobody could understand" [syn: emit, let out, let loose]

  3. express in speech; "She talks a lot of nonsense"; "This depressed patient does not verbalize" [syn: talk, speak, mouth, verbalize, verbalise]

  4. put into circulation; "utter counterfeit currency"

Wikipedia
Utter (surname)

Utter is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:

  • Charlie Utter (1838–1912), American prospector
  • Douglas Max Utter (born 1950), American painter
  • George H. Utter (1854–1912), Governor of Rhode Island
  • Harriet Utter (1816–1882), one of the first Euro-Canadian settlers on what became the site of Arkona, Ontario
  • Lauren Utter (born 1985), Artist, Model, and contestant on Cycle 10 of America's Next Top Model
  • Robert F. Utter (1930–2014), American jurist

Usage examples of "utter".

Here was my wife, who had secretly aided and abetted her son in his design, and been the recipient of his hopes and fears on the subject, turning to me, who had dared to utter a feeble protest or two only to be scoffed at, and summarily sat upon, asking if the game was really safe.

I spared little time away from that book, and studied in it incessantly the ways and windings of magic, till I could hold communication with Genii, and wield charms to summon them, and utter spells that subdue them, discovering the haunts of talismans that enthral Afrites and are powerful among men.

So therefore, when we are newly passed on, you may find an agnostic or an atheist who passes over expecting nothing but utter finality, and will find themselves surrounded by a wall of darkness built up by their own thoughts.

Everyone stopped speaking to stare agog at the man who had uttered this bizarre snippet.

Broken stone and iron gashed her bare feet as she plunged into the black arch of the gate, but the pain was swallowed in icy fear as thin, aimless winds tugged at heras she sensed, rather than saw, something move in the utter blackness over her head.

Syrinx watched in utter fascination as the two passed within fifty metres of the boat, rocking it alarmingly in their pounding wake.

For one thing, there was a subtle, indefinable sense of limitless antiquity and utter alienage which affected one like a view from the brink of a monstrous abyss of unplumbed blackness - but mostly it was the expression of crazed fear on the puckered, prognathous, half-shielded face.

Sir Alured, when he was uttering this prayer, was thinking of what he had heard of in an Irish land bill, the details of which, however, had been altogether incomprehensible to him.

Then old Amable, vanquished, without uttering a word, climbed back to his loft.

So we both alleged a state of utter repletion, and did not solve the mystery of the contents of the cupboard,--not too luxurious, it may be conjectured, and yet kindly offered, so that we felt there was a moist filament of the social instinct running like a nerve through that exsiccated and almost anhydrous organism.

But though uttered by a Roman cardinal, even such an expression can hardly be termed violent when applied to the synod which established free elections to bishoprics, suppressed the right of bestowing the pallium, of exacting annates and payments to the papal chancery, and which was endeavouring to restore the papacy to evangelical poverty.

The utter implausibility of this woman and her apish companion suddenly appearing on the doomed construction site left the young g-man dumbfounded.

Should a lone air raider fly over Manhattan and drop a single demolition bomb in the blackened hollow where the Argyle Museum was flanked by towering skyscrapers, there would be utter devastation among the priceless antiquities that old Henry had accumulated.

As for their view of pragmatists, a succinct summation was first uttered in frustration by Representative Dick Armey of Texas in the late eighties, when Republicans were the long-standing minority in Congress.

The officer at the telephone, who was still without his call, put down the receiver and stared at Asch in utter astonishment.