Whisper vs Mutter - What's the difference?
whisper | mutter |
The act of speaking in a quiet voice, especially, without vibration of the vocal cords.
* 1883 , :
(usually in plural) A rumor.
(figurative) A faint trace or hint (of something).
(internet) A private message to an individual in a chat room.
* 2002 , Ralph Schroeder, The Social Life of Avatars (page 218)
* 2004 , Caroline A. Haythornthwaite, Michelle M. Kazmer, Learning, Culture and Community in Online Education (page 179)
To speak softly, or under the breath, so as to be heard only by one near at hand; to utter words without sonant breath; to talk without that vibration in the larynx which gives sonorous, or vocal, sound.
To mention privately and confidentially, or in a whisper.
* Bentley
To make a low, sibilant sound.
* Thomson
To speak with suspicion or timorous caution; to converse in whispers, as in secret plotting.
* Bible, Psalms xli. 7
(obsolete) To address in a whisper, or low voice.
* Shakespeare
* Keble
(obsolete) To prompt secretly or cautiously; to inform privately.
* Shakespeare
A repressed or obscure utterance; an instance of muttering.
(in Indian restaurants) peas
To utter words, especially complaints or angry expressions, indistinctly or with a low voice and lips partly closed; to say under one's breath.
* {{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
To speak softly and incoherently, or with imperfect articulations.
* Dryden
To make a sound with a low, rumbling noise.
* Alexander Pope
As nouns the difference between whisper and mutter
is that whisper is the act of speaking in a quiet voice, especially, without vibration of the vocal cords while mutter is a repressed or obscure utterance; an instance of muttering.As verbs the difference between whisper and mutter
is that whisper is to speak softly, or under the breath, so as to be heard only by one near at hand; to utter words without sonant breath; to talk without that vibration in the larynx which gives sonorous, or vocal, sound while 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.whisper
English
Noun
(Whispering) (en noun)- "Now, look here, Jim Hawkins," he said, in a steady whisper , that was no more than audible.
- There are whispers of rebellion all around.
- The soup had just a whisper of basil.
- The invisibility of private interactions in the form of whispers resolved an ethical concern in the research but reduced our ability to gauge the volume of interaction
- Anyone logged in to the chat room can click on an individual name, highlighting it, and send a message — a whisper — that will be seen only by the selected person.
Derived terms
* stage whisper * whisper campaignVerb
(en verb)- They might buzz and whisper it one to another.
- the hollow, whispering breeze
- All that hate me whisper together against me.
- and whisper one another in the ear
- where gentlest breezes whisper souls distressed
- He came to whisper Wolsey.
mutter
English
Noun
(en noun)- The prisoners were docile, and accepted their lot with barely a mutter .
Derived terms
* mutter paneerVerb
(en verb)- 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.
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.}}
- The asylum inmate muttered some doggerel about chains and pains to himself, over and over.
- Meantime your filthy foreigner will stare, / And mutter to himself.
- April could hear the delivery van's engine muttering in the driveway.
- Thick lightnings flash, the muttering thunder rolls.