utterance
Syllables: ut·ter·ance/ˈʌtəɹəns/
utterance noun: an act of, or the process of, uttering.
Noun (1)
utterance (countable and uncountable, plural utterances)
- An act of, or the process of, uttering.
- at length gave utterance to these words1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC...
- July 1857, The Imagination in Mathematics", in The North American Review
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.
- Synonyms:
- uttering
- An instance of that act or process: especially, something spoken (e.g., syllables, words, phrases); (especially linguistics) any such thing either spoken or written.
- 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.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, “XXVA”, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 203
- 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.2005, Plato, translated by Lesley Brown, Sophist, page 237a
- The ability to speak.
- Mrs. Weston kissed her with tears of joy; and when she could find utterance, assured her, that this protestation had done her more good than any thing else in the world could do.1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter X, in Emma: […], volume III, London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC, page 175
- A manner of speaking.
- He has a good utterance.
- They [...] began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts ii:4
- A sale made by offering to the public.
- The clothemakers[…] had great profite and good utterance of the sayd clotha. 1564, King Edward IV of England, a royal decree
- An act of putting in circulation.
- the utterance of false coin, or of forged notes
Noun (2)
utterance (plural utterances)
- The utmost extremity, especially of a fight; bodily harm or death.
- Among champions and such as strive for the masterie in feats of activitie, we count those for their adversaries and concurrents onely, who professe and practise the same kinde of game or exercise; for those that goe to it with fists and buffers, are commonly friends good enough to such...1603, Plutarch, “Of Brotherly Love”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Philosophie, Commonlie Called, The Morals […], London: […] Arnold Hatfield, →OCLC, page 184
- To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings!
Rather than so, come fate into the list,
And champion me to th' utterance.c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
- Synonyms:
- outrance
utterance meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
utterance in Hindi
- utterance, remark
- कहना kahnā
- utterance, speech
- अभिव्यक्ति abhivyakti
- utterance, speaking
- कहनी kahnī
utterance in Tamil
- an act of uttering
- கூற்று kūṟṟu
- something spoken
- கூற்று kūṟṟu
utterance in Marathi
- utterance
- उद्गार udgār
utterance in Urdu
- utterance
- ارشادات iršādāt
More languagesFewer languages
- utterance in Bengali
- মাত mat, কথন kothon
- utterance in Telugu
- పలుకు paluku
- utterance in Malayalam
- ഉച്ചരിക്കൽ uccarikkal, ഉച്ചാരണം uccāraṇaṁ
- utterance in Kannada
- ಹೇಳಿಕೆ, ಉಕ್ತಿ, ಉವಾಚ, ಮಾತಿನ ಶೈಲಿ
- utterance in Punjabi
- ਵਾਚ vāc
- utterance in Gujarati
- ઉચ્ચાર uccār
- utterance in Odia
- ବଚନ bacana, କଥା kathā
- utterance in Sanskrit
- व्याहृति vyā́hṛti, व्याहार vyāhāra, मोक्ष mokṣa
Examples of utterance in a sentence
- These unidiomatic utterances are easily comprehensible but are not grammatical.
- A surgeon performing an operation may make empractical utterances to her assistant to request tools, such as "scalpel".
- Sometimes a difference in intended meaning has only a zero to mark it, in which case the utterance may be ambiguous when context alone does not fully clarify it.
Synonyms of utterance
Forms of utterance
| plural | utterances |
|---|---|
| alternative form | utteraunce |
Origin of utterance
From Middle English utteraunce, outeraunce; equivalent to utter + -ance.
From Middle English outraunce, utteraunce, from Old French outrance (see outrance).
Words formed from utterance
Questions about utterance
- What does utterance mean?
- Utterance means an act of, or the process of, uttering.
- What is utterance in Hindi?
- Utterance in Hindi is कहना (kahnā), अभिव्यक्ति (abhivyakti), कहनी (kahnī). See Utterance meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is utterance?
- Utterance is a noun.
- How do you pronounce utterance?
- Utterance is pronounced /ˈʌtəɹəns/.
- What is the plural of utterance?
- The plural of utterance is utterances.
Words near utterance in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: utterance (page history and authors); अभिव्यक्ति (Hindi) (page history and authors); उद्गार (Marathi) (page history and authors); ارشادات (Urdu) (page history and authors); কথন (Bengali) (page history and authors); పలుకు (Telugu) (page history and authors); utterance (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਵਾਚ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); ઉચ્ચાર (Gujarati) (page history and authors); କଥା (Odia) (page history and authors); मोक्ष (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-utterance.ogg.
Cite this entry: “utterance.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/utterance. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.