utterance
1 Americannoun
-
manner of speaking; power of speaking.
His very utterance was spellbinding.
-
something uttered; utter; a word or words uttered; utter; a cry, animal's call, or the like.
-
Linguistics. any speech sequence consisting of one or more words and preceded and followed by silence: it may be coextensive with a sentence.
-
Obsolete. a public sale of goods.
noun
noun
-
something uttered, such as a statement
-
the act or power of uttering or the ability to utter
-
logic philosophy an element of spoken language, esp a sentence Compare inscription
noun
Etymology
Origin of utterance1
late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50; utter 1, -ance
Origin of utterance2
1350–1400; Middle English < Old French outrance, oultrance, equivalent to oultr ( er ) to pass beyond (< Latin ultrā beyond) + -ance -ance
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
After a truth-telling lecture tour failed to attract much of an audience, Maggie retracted her confession: “I gave expression to utterances that had no foundation in fact.”
From Literature
Barely hours into the top job, Peru's eighth president in a decade found himself under fire Thursday over past utterances on child marriage, and graft allegations.
From Barron's
As a zombie, his utterances make him seem beastlier than ever to the other humans he encounters.
From Salon
Many analysts have learned to take Musk's utterances with a grain of salt after earlier predictions about the nearness of fully autonomous driving didn't come to pass.
From Barron's
And you couldn’t swing a dead cat at CES without hitting an AI-powered gadget that promises to listen and interpret your every utterance.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
