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Utter vs Sing - What's the difference?

utter | sing | Related terms |

In transitive terms the difference between utter and sing

is that utter is to make (a noise while sing is to soothe with singing.

As an adjective utter

is outer; furthest out, most remote.

As an adverb utter

is further out; further away, outside.

As a noun sing is

a gathering for the purpose of singing songs.

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.’
  • ----

    sing

    English

    Verb

  • To produce musical or harmonious sounds with one’s voice.
  • "I really want to sing in the school choir." said Vera .
  • To express audibly by means of a harmonious vocalization.
  • * {{quote-book, 1852, Mrs M.A. Thompson, chapter=The Tutor's Daughter, Graham's American Monthly Magazine of Literature, Art, and Fashion, page=266 citation
  • , passage=In the lightness of my heart I sang catches of songs as my horse gayly bore me along the well-remembered road.}}
  • To soothe with singing.
  • to sing somebody to sleep
  • (slang) To confess under interrogation.
  • To make a small, shrill sound.
  • The air sings in passing through a crevice.
  • * Alexander Pope
  • O'er his head the flying spear / Sang innocent, and spent its force in air.
  • To relate in verse; to celebrate in poetry.
  • * Prior
  • Bid her sing / Of human hope by cross event destroyed.
    (Milton)

    Derived terms

    * besing * sing along / sing-along * singer * sing from the same hymnbook * singing cowboy * sing out * singsong * sing soprano * sing the praises

    See also

    * singe

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A gathering for the purpose of singing songs.
  • * 2002 , Martha Mizell Puckett, ?Hoyle B. Puckett, Memories of a Georgia Teacher: Fifty Years in the Classroom (page 198)
  • Some of the young folks asked Mrs. Long could they have a sing at her home that Sunday afternoon; she readily agreed, telling them to come early, bring their songbooks, and have a good sing.