utter

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Contents

English [edit]

Pronunciation [edit]

Etymology 1 [edit]

Old English ūtera, comparative of ūt (“out”); compare outer.

Adjective [edit]

utter (not comparable)

  1. (now poetic, literary) Outer; furthest out, most remote. [from 10th c.]
  2. (obsolete) Outward. [13th–16th c.]
    • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Matthew XXIII:
      Wo be to you scrybes and pharises ypocrites, for ye make clene the utter side off the cuppe, and off the platter: but within they are full of brybery and excesse.
    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.10:
      So forth without impediment I past, / Till to the Bridges utter gate I came […] .
  3. Absolute, unconditional, total, complete. [from 15th c.]
    • 1920, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Thuvia, Maiden of Mars[1], edition HTML, 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.
Synonyms [edit]
Derived terms [edit]
Translations [edit]
absolute

Etymology 2 [edit]

Partly from out (adverb/verb), partly from Middle Dutch uteren.

Verb [edit]

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

  1. (transitive) To say
    Don't you utter another word!
  2. (transitive) To use the voice
    Sally uttered a sigh of relief.
    The dog uttered a growling bark.
  3. (transitive) To make speech sounds which may or may not have an actual language involved
    Sally is uttering some fairly strange things in her illness.
  4. (transitive) To make (a noise)
    Sally's car uttered a hideous shriek when she applied the brakes.
  5. (law, transitive) To put counterfeit money etc. into circulation
Derived terms [edit]
Translations [edit]
say
use the voice
make speech sounds
make a noise
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked
put counterfeit money etc. into circulation

Etymology 3 [edit]

Old English ūtor, comparative of ūt (“out”).

Adverb [edit]

utter (comparative more utter, superlative most utter)

  1. (obsolete) Further out; further away, outside.
    • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book VI:
      So whan he com nyghe to hir, she bade hym ryde uttir – ‘for thou smellyst all of the kychyn.’

Swedish [edit]

Noun [edit]

utter c

  1. otter; a mammal of the family Mustelidae

Declension [edit]

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