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Utterance vs Mutter - What's the difference?

utterance | mutter |

As nouns the difference between utterance and mutter

is that utterance is an act of uttering while mutter is a repressed or obscure utterance; an instance of muttering.

As a verb mutter is

to utter words, especially complaints or angry expressions, indistinctly or with a low voice and lips partly closed; to say under one's breath.

utterance

English

Alternative forms

* utteraunce

Etymology 1

From

Noun

(en noun)
  • An act of uttering.
  • * (John Milton)
  • at length gave utterance to these words
  • Something spoken.
  • * , chapter=13
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=“[…] They talk of you as if you were Croesus—and I expect the beggars sponge on you unconscionably.” And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances . He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes.}}
  • * 2005 , (Plato), Sophist . Translation by Lesley Brown. .
  • To know how one should express oneself in saying or judging that there really are falsehoods without getting caught up in contradiction by such an utterance : that's extremely difficult, Theaetetus.
  • The ability to speak.
  • Manner of speaking.
  • * Bible, Acts ii. 4
  • Theybegan to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance .
  • * (John Keats)
  • O, how unlike / To that large utterance of the early gods!
  • (obsolete) Sale by offering to the public.
  • (Francis Bacon)
  • (obsolete) Putting in circulation.
  • Quotations
    * Mathematics and Poetry are... the utterance of the same power of imagination, only that in the one case it is addressed to the head, in the other, to the heart. — Thomas Hill

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) oultrance.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The utmost extremity (of a fight etc.).
  • *:
  • *:And soo they mette soo hard / that syre Palomydes felle to the erthe hors and alle / Thenne sir Bleoberis cryed a lowde and said thus / make the redy thou fals traytour knyghte Breuse saunce pyte / for wete thow certaynly I wille haue adoo with the to the vtteraunce for the noble knyghtes and ladyes that thou hast falsly bitraid
  • References

    mutter

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A repressed or obscure utterance; an instance of muttering.
  • The prisoners were docile, and accepted their lot with barely a mutter .
  • (in Indian restaurants) peas
  • Derived terms

    * mutter paneer

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To utter words, especially complaints or angry expressions, indistinctly or with a low voice and lips partly closed; to say under one's breath.
  • You could hear the students mutter as they were served sodden spaghetti, yet again, in the cafeteria.
    The beggar muttered words of thanks, as passersby dropped coins in his cup.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2012 , date=June 28 , author=Jamie Jackson , title=Wimbledon 2012: Lukas Rosol shocked by miracle win over Rafael Nadal , work=the Guardian citation , page= , passage=This set – the set of Rosol's life – was studded with aces and menacing ground-strokes that left Nadal an impotent spectator often muttering to himself and at the umpire regarding a perceived misdemeanour by his opponent.}}
  • To speak softly and incoherently, or with imperfect articulations.
  • The asylum inmate muttered some doggerel about chains and pains to himself, over and over.
  • * Dryden
  • Meantime your filthy foreigner will stare, / And mutter to himself.
  • To make a sound with a low, rumbling noise.
  • April could hear the delivery van's engine muttering in the driveway.
  • * Alexander Pope
  • Thick lightnings flash, the muttering thunder rolls.

    Synonyms

    * (sense, speak under one's breath) growl, grumble, mumble * (speak incoherently) babble, mumble, murmur, ramble, stutter * (make a low sound) growl, putter, rumble * See also