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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. v. To send forth with the voice: uttered a cry.
  2. v. To articulate (words); pronounce or speak. See Synonyms at vent1.
  3. v. Law To put (counterfeit money, for example) into circulation.
  4. v. To publish (a book, for example).
  5. v. Obsolete To sell or deliver (merchandise) in trading.
  6. adj. Complete; absolute; entire: utter nonsense; utter darkness.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. That is or lies on the exterior or outside; outer.
  2. Situated at or beyond the limits of something; remote from some center; outward; outside of any place or space.
  3. Complete; total; entire; perfect; absolute.
  4. Peremptory; absolute; unconditional; unqualified; final.
  5. n. The extreme; the utmost.
  6. To put out or forth; expel; emit.
  7. To dispose of to the public or in the way of trade; specifically, to put into circulation, as money, notes, base coin, etc.: now used only in the latter specific sense.
  8. To give public expression to; disclose; publish; pronounce; speak: reflexively, to give utterance to, as one's thoughts; express one's self.
  9. In law, to deliver, or offer to deliver, as an unlawful thing for an unlawful purpose. Synonyms Utter, Enunciate, Pronounce, Deliver, express, broach. Utter is the most general of the italicized words; it applies to any audible voice: as, to utter a sigh, a shriek, an exclamation. The rest apply to words. Enunciate expresses careful utterance, meaning that each sound or word is made completely audible: as, enunciate your words distinctly. Pronounce applies to units of speech; as, he cannot pronounce the letter “r”; he pronounces his words indistinctly; he pronounced an oration at the grave; he pronounced the sentence of death; the last two of these imply a solemn and formal utterance. Deliver refers to the whole speech, including not only utterance, but whatever there may be of help from skilful management of the voice, gesture, etc.: as, “a poor speech well delivered is generally more effective than a good speech badly delivered.Deliver still has, however, sometimes its old sense of simply uttering or making known in any way.
  10. Outside; on the outside; out.
  11. Utterly.

Wiktionary

  1. adj. Outer; furthest out, most remote. [from 10th c.]
  2. adj. Outward. [13th-16th c.]
  3. adj. Absolute, unconditional, total. [from 15th c.]
  4. v. To say
  5. v. To use the voice
  6. v. To make speech sounds which may or may not have an actual language involved
  7. v. To make (a noise)
  8. v. To put counterfeit money etc. into circulation
  9. adv. Further out; further away, outside.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. adj. Outer.
  2. adj. Situated on the outside, or extreme limit; remote from the center; outer.
  3. adj. Complete; perfect; total; entire; absolute.
  4. adj. Peremptory; unconditional; unqualified; final.
  5. v. To put forth or out; to reach out.
  6. v. To dispose of in trade; to sell or vend.
  7. v. 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.
  8. v. To give public expression to; to disclose; to publish; to speak; to pronounce.

WordNet 3.0

  1. v. put into circulation
  2. adj. complete.
  3. v. express audibly; utter sounds (not necessarily words)
  4. v. articulate; either verbally or with a cry, shout, or noise
  5. v. express in speech
  6. adj. without qualification; used informally as (often pejorative) intensifiers

Etymologies

  1. Middle English utteren, partly from Middle Low German uteren (from uter, outer, comparative of ūt, out; see ud- in Indo-European roots) and alteration (influenced by utter, outer) of Middle English outen, to disclose (from out, out; see out).Middle English, from Old English ūtera, outer; see ud- in Indo-European roots.

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‘utter’ has been looked up 2786 times, loved by 3 people, added to 25 lists, and has a Scrabble score of 5.