utter

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Complete and total, used to emphasize how extreme something is.

   The meeting was an utter waste of time.

2. 2
   verb

   To say something or make a sound with your voice.

   She was so shocked that she could not utter a single word.

PIE word *úd From Middle English outren, utteren (“to display for sale; to market; to sell; to say, speak; to put into words, express, tell; to make known, reveal”), partly: * from outre, utter (adjective, adverb) (see etymology 1 and etymology 3) + -en (suffix forming the infinitives of verbs); and * from Middle Dutch uteren (“to announce, make known”) (modern Dutch uiteren); or from Middle Low German üteren, ütern (“to demonstrate, show; to speak; to sell; etc.”) (modern Low German ütern), from Old Dutch or Old Saxon ūtan, probably from Proto-West Germanic *ūtanā (“from outside or without;…

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