utter

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See also: Utter

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English utter, from out (adjective) and Old English ūtera, comparative of ūt (“out”). Compare outer.

Adjective

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utter (not comparable)

  1. Absolute, unconditional, total, complete. [from 15th c.]
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:total
    utter ruin;   utter darkness
    utter joy;   utter bliss
    • 1708, Francis Atterbury, Fourteen Sermons Preach'd on Several Occasions, Preface:
      They […] are utter strangers to all those anxious […] thoughts which […] disquiet mankind.
    • 1920, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Thuvia, Maiden of Mars‎[1], HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2008:
      His eyes could not penetrate the darkness even to the distinguishing of his hand before his face, while the banths, he knew, could see quite well, though absence of light were utter.
  2. (now poetic, literary) Outer; furthest out, most remote: outmost. [from 10th c.]
    at the utter extremities of
  3. (obsolete) Outward. [13th–16th c.]
Usage notes
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This adjective is often used with negative nouns (i.e., those denoting undesirable things); its use with positive nouns (denoting desirable things) is less common although not rare. A synonym, sheer, is often used with either negative or positive nouns.

Derived terms
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Derived terms
Translations
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Etymology 2

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From Middle English utter, partly from utter (adjective, adverb), partly from Middle Dutch uteren.

Verb

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utter (third-person singular simple present utters, present participle uttering, simple past and past participle uttered)

  1. (transitive) To produce (speech or other sounds) with one's voice.
    Synonyms: let out, say, speak; see also Thesaurus:utter, Thesaurus:speak
    Don't you utter another word!
  2. (transitive) To reveal or express (an idea, thought, desire, etc.) with speech.
    Synonyms: declare, say, tell
  3. (transitive, figurative) To produce (a noise) (of an inanimate object).
    Synonyms: emit, let out
    Sally’s car uttered a hideous shriek when she applied the brakes.
  4. (transitive, obsolete) To spit or blow (something) out of one's mouth.
    • 1819 June 23, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “Rip Van Winkle”, in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., number I, New York, N.Y.: […] C[ornelius] S. Van Winkle, […], →OCLC, pages 82–83:
      He looked in vain for the sage Nicholas Vedder, with his broad face, double chin, and fair long pipe, uttering clouds of tobacco smoke instead of idle speeches; […]
    • 1821 September, Charles Lamb, “The Old Benchers of the Inner Temple”, in The London Magazine, volume 4, number 21, page 280:
      Four little winged marble boys used to play their virgin fancies, spouting out ever fresh streams from their innocent-wanton lips, in the square of Lincoln’s-inn […] Are the stiff-wigged living figures, that still flitter and chatter about that area, less gothic in appearance? or, is the splutter of their hot rhetoric one half so refreshing and innocent, as the little cool playful streams those exploded cherubs uttered?
  5. (transitive, obsolete) To emit or give off (breath).
    • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, A Midsommer Nights Dreame. […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Richard Bradock] for Thomas Fisher, […], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:
      […] moſt deare Actors, eate no Onions, nor garlicke: for vve are to vtter ſvveete breath: […]
    • 1629, William Davenant, The Tragedy of Albovine, King of the Lombards‎[4], London: R. Moore, act I, scene 1:
      […] now the King forsakes / The Campe, he must maintaine luxurious mouthes, / Such as can vtter perfum’d breath,
  6. (transitive, archaic) To shed (a tear or tears).
    • c. 1607–1611 (first performance), [Francis Beaumont], Iohn Fletcher, Cupids Revenge. […], London: […] Thomas Creede for Iosias Harison, […], published 1615, →OCLC, Act V, scene [iii], signature L3, recto:
      [Ô] vvoman, vvoman, vveepe novv or neuer, thou haſt made more ſorrovves then vve haue eyes to vtter.
    • 1928, Robert Byron, chapter 6, in The Station: Travels to the Holy Mountain of Greece, Bloomsbury, published 2010:
      […] a mythological matron, in a classical helmet, uttering a tear at a rustic cross bound in blue and white ribbons and inscribed TO THE FALLEN—1912, […]
  7. (transitive, obsolete) To offer (something) for sale; to sell.
  8. (transitive, law) To put (currency) into circulation.
    Synonym: circulate
    • 1564, Proclamation of Elizabeth I of England dated November, 1564, London: Richard Jugge and John Cawood, 1565,[5]
      […] there are […] forrayne peeces of golde, of the like quantitie and fashion (although of lesse value) lyke to an Englyshe Angell, brought hyther, and here vttered and payde for ten shyllynges of syluer, beyng for they lacke of wayght, and for the basenesse of the allay, not worth. vii. shillinges, to the great deceite and losse of the subiectes of this her Realme:
    • 1735, Jonathan Swift, Drapier’s Letters, Letter 3, in The Works of Jonathan Swift, Dublin: George Faulkner, Volume 4, p. 123,[6]
      There is nothing remaining to preserve us from Ruin, but that the whole Kingdom should continue in a firm determinate Resolution never to receive or utter this FATAL Coin:
    • 1842, cited in Supplement to The Jurist, containing a Digest of All the Reported Cases […] published during the year 1842, p. 49,[7]
      If two persons jointly prepare counterfeit coin, and then utter it in different shops, apart from each other, but in concert, and intending to share the proceeds, the utterings of each are the joint utterings of both, and they may be convicted jointly.
    • 1914, Section 87G(2), Crimes Act 1914 (Cth)
      A person shall not utter a postage stamp knowing it to be forged.
    • 1948, 18 U.S. Code § 486, Uttering coins of gold, silver or other metal
      Whoever, except as authorized by law, makes or utters or passes, or attempts to utter or pass, any coins of gold or silver or other metal, or alloys of metals, intended for use as current money, whether in the resemblance of coins of the United States or of foreign countries, or of original design, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
  9. (transitive, obsolete) To show (something that has been hidden); to reveal the identity of (someone).
  10. (transitive, obsolete) To send or put (something) out.
  11. (transitive, law) To commit the crime of uttering (knowingly presenting forged documentation).
    • 1875, George Hayter Chubb, Protection from fire and thieves including the construction of locks, safes, strong-rooms, and fireproof buildings : burglary, and the means of preventing it; fire, its detection, prevention, and extinction; etc. : also a complete list of patents for locks and safes‎[9], page 23:
      A man named Edward Agar was convicted in October 1855 of uttering a forged cheque, and sentenced to be transported for life.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Swedish

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Etymology

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From Old Norse otr, from Proto-Germanic *utraz, from Proto-Indo-European *udrós (“water-animal, otter”), from *wed- (“water”).

Noun

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utter c

  1. otter; a mammal of the family Mustelidae

Declension

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Declension of utter
nominative genitive
singular indefinite utter utters
definite uttern utterns
plural indefinite uttrar uttrars
definite uttrarna uttrarnas

References

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