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Utter vs Reply - What's the difference?

utter | reply |

In lang=en terms the difference between utter and reply

is that utter is to make (a noise) while reply is to repeat something back; to echo.

As verbs the difference between utter and reply

is that utter is to say while reply is (intransitive) to give a written or spoken response, especially to a question, request, accusation or criticism; to answer.

As an adjective utter

is .

As an adverb utter

is (label) further out; further away, outside.

As a noun reply is

a written or spoken response; part of a conversation.

utter

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) ; compare (outer).

Adjective

(-)
  • * Chapman
  • By him a shirt and utter mantle laid.
  • * Spenser
  • As doth an hidden moth / The inner garment fret, not th' utter touch.
  • * Milton
  • Through utter and through middle darkness borne.
  • (obsolete) Outward.
  • * 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 .
  • Absolute, unconditional, total, complete.
  • utter''' ruin; '''utter darkness
  • * Atterbury
  • They are utter strangers to all those anxious thoughts which disquiet mankind.
  • :* {{quote-book
  • , year=1920 , year_published=2008 , edition=HTML , editor= , author=Edgar Rice Burroughs , title=Thuvia, Maiden of Mars , chapter= citation , genre= , publisher=The Gutenberg Project , isbn= , page= , passage=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
    * see also
    Derived terms
    * utterly * utterness * uttermost

    Etymology 2

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

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To say
  • Don't you utter another word!
  • To use the voice
  • Sally uttered a sigh of relief.
    The dog uttered a growling bark.
  • To make speech sounds which may or may not have an actual language involved
  • Sally is uttering some fairly strange things in her illness.
  • *
  • To make (a noise)
  • Sally's car uttered a hideous shriek when she applied the brakes.
  • (legal) To put counterfeit money, etc. , into circulation
  • Derived terms
    * utterance * utterer * utterless * utterable

    Etymology 3

    (etyl) .

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • (label) Further out; further away, outside.
  • *, Bk.VII, Ch.v:
  • *:So whan he com nyghe to hir, she bade hym ryde uttir —‘for thou smellyst all of the kychyn.’
  • ----

    reply

    English

    Verb

    (en-verb)
  • (intransitive) To give a written or spoken response, especially to a question, request, accusation or criticism; to answer.
  • Please reply to my letter.
    "Sorry I'm late," replied the student.
    He replied that he was not sure.
  • To act or gesture in response.
  • Joanne replied to Pete's insult with a slap to his face.
  • * 1988 , Emmanuel Doe Ziorklui, Ghana: Nkrumah to Rawlings
  • It is a sound to be dreaded until you ascertain that it is being made by friendly forces; even then, your welcome to it must be tempered with some caution, because gunfire usually leads to replying gunfire
  • To repeat something back; to echo.
  • Synonyms

    * respond, answer, retort, answer back, react, rejoin, counter, return, revert, follow up, get back to

    Noun

    (replies)
  • A written or spoken response; part of a conversation.
  • Something given in reply.
  • Synonyms

    * answer, comeback, response, retort, return, account, rejoinder, riposte, reaction