Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To send forth with the voice: uttered a cry.
- v. To articulate (words); pronounce or speak. See Synonyms at vent1.
- v. Law To put (counterfeit money, for example) into circulation.
- v. To publish (a book, for example).
- v. Obsolete To sell or deliver (merchandise) in trading.
- adj. Complete; absolute; entire: utter nonsense; utter darkness.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- That is or lies on the exterior or outside; outer.
- Situated at or beyond the limits of something; remote from some center; outward; outside of any place or space.
- Complete; total; entire; perfect; absolute.
- Peremptory; absolute; unconditional; unqualified; final.
- n. The extreme; the utmost.
- To put out or forth; expel; emit.
- 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.
- To give public expression to; disclose; publish; pronounce; speak: reflexively, to give utterance to, as one's thoughts; express one's self.
- 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. - Outside; on the outside; out.
- Utterly.
Wiktionary
- adj. Outer; furthest out, most remote. [from 10th c.]
- adj. Outward. [13th-16th c.]
- adj. Absolute, unconditional, total. [from 15th c.]
- v. To say
- v. To use the voice
- v. To make speech sounds which may or may not have an actual language involved
- v. To make (a noise)
- v. To put counterfeit money etc. into circulation
- adv. Further out; further away, outside.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Outer.
- adj. Situated on the outside, or extreme limit; remote from the center; outer.
- adj. Complete; perfect; total; entire; absolute.
- adj. Peremptory; unconditional; unqualified; final.
- v. To put forth or out; to reach out.
- v. To dispose of in trade; to sell or vend.
- 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.
- v. To give public expression to; to disclose; to publish; to speak; to pronounce.
WordNet 3.0
- v. put into circulation
- adj. complete.
- v. express audibly; utter sounds (not necessarily words)
- v. articulate; either verbally or with a cry, shout, or noise
- v. express in speech
- adj. without qualification; used informally as (often pejorative) intensifiers
Etymologies
- 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.
Examples
“IV. iv.330 (346,1) [_That doth utter all mens 'wear-a_] To _utter_.”
“After witnessing first hand what he calls the utter failure of our current policies of drug prohibition -- marijuana in particular -- he cites unnecessary prison growth, increased taxes, increased crime and corruption, and the loss of civil liberties as the unhealthy side effects of an anemic policy in need of drastic reform.”
“Looking at what he called "utter obliteration," he vowed that the community will rebuild.”
“Some residents fought back tears as they told the City Council about how police impounded their cars with what they described as utter indifference to extraordinary circumstances and medical emergencies.”
“She called the police from her mobile phone as she stood there in utter terror and shortly after officer Mohab came to her rescue.”
Global Voices in English » Egypt: April 18 Declared Anti-Harassment Day
“Many intelligent, independent women today are in utter denial as to their true skin tone, wasting oodles of their life stood in paper knickers in a portable tent being sprayed Walnut.”
“The public trial will likely reveal that the veteran FBI interrogation term left Cheney's handpicked blackwater torture wannabe's in utter disgust over their incompetence and tactics.”
“If you really don't like it for whatever reason, well, you can't actually return it like a CD, but I'm going to take you on your word that you deleted it from your hard drive in utter disdain, and allow you to ask for a replacement of equal value.”
“The Chamber is an exercise in utter brainlessness.”
“As opposed to say, the Bush Administration, where every American woman, man and child, lived in utter peace and tranquility … ….”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘utter’.
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Word Words
This used to be my nym list, but there are so many words about words, I think it's time to expand and open.
acronym, antonym, aptronym, autoantonym, autonym, bacronym, capitonym, contranym, contronym, eponym, exonym, heteronym and 120 more...
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Talk Talk
Words for Talking
squawk, gab, chatter, chitchat, blab, prattle, blather, discuss, hector, plead, cajole, harangue and 189 more...
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bad memory
copper, anvil, oblique, thrust, shrine, welfare, farewell, bitter, faction, sectarian, tangible, spectacle and 132 more...
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The Pain of Texting
Words that are a pain in the ass to type in on a numerical keypad on a cell phone because they have consecutive letters that share the same button:
2 - ABC
3 - DEF
4 - GHI...defcon, hi, no, attitude, xylophone, on, monday, monkey, mono, dig, back, babble and 212 more...
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Last Words
Endings, results, and pinnacles. The ideal here is to somehow imply the paradoxical concept of "after-endings".
consequence, aftermath, finality, outcome, postmundane, endgame, redound, cloture, bourne, meridian, memento mori, psychopomp and 72 more...
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I am : talking
"These are talking words," I announce. "You mean verbs that can be used for dialogue?" you ask. "That's right!" I agree.
say, speak, ask, declare, query, shout, yell, scream, shriek, squeal, squeak, screech and 81 more...
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This list is like butter
peanut butter, almond butter, butter of antimony, mineral butter, butter of arsenic, soy nut butter, apple butter, cocoa butter, butter bean, butter clam, butterfly, cacao butter and 72 more...
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On speaking terms
Verbs describing speech. We are all tired of He said, She said. Here are some alternative verbs.
stated, declare, state, assert, affirm, air, articulate, deliver, describe, clarify, elucidate, enunciate and 19 more...
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Words for my English Learners
vast, superfluous, inevitable, though, pervasive, overwhelm, assume, presume, curious, eccentric, whimsical, quaint and 12 more...

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