Utter vs Completely - What's the difference?

As adverbs the difference between utter and completely

is that utter is (label) further out; further away, outside while completely is (manner) in a complete manner; fully; totally; utterly.

As an adjective utter

is .

As a verb utter

is to say.

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.’

----

completely

English

Adverb

(en adverb)

(manner) In a complete manner; fully; totally; utterly.

* 1851 , (Herman Melville), , Chapter 70,

It should not have been omitted that previous to completely stripping the body of the leviathan, he was beheaded.

* 1899 , (Kate Chopin), , Chapter XIX,

She completely abandoned her Tuesdays at home, and did not return the visits of those who had called upon her.

* 1969 , E.R. Zumwalt, Jr., ,

Lieutenant (junior grade) KERRY immediately maneuvered his craft through several strafing runs which completely silenced the enemy.

(degree) To the fullest extent or degree; totally.

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=2 , passage=I had occasion […] to make a somewhat long business trip to Chicago, and on my return […] I found Farrar awaiting me in the railway station. He smiled his wonted fraction by way of greeting, […], and finally leading me to his buggy, turned and drove out of town. I was completely mystified at such an unusual proceeding.}}

* 1968 June 8, ,

Our future may lie beyond our vision, but it is not completely beyond our control.

* 1975 , (Helen Schucman), '', Lesson 75: ''The light has come ,

Keep a completely open mind, washed of all past ideas and clean of every concept you have made.

Synonyms

* See also