All 12 Uses of
utter
in
Notes from the Underground
- But very often, and even most often, choice is utterly and stubbornly opposed to reason ...and ...and ...do you know that that, too, is profitable, sometimes even praiseworthy?†
Chpt 1.8 *utterly = completely or totally
- They did not fight duels and would have thought a duel with a civilian like me an utterly unseemly procedure in any case—and they looked upon the duel altogether as something impossible, something free-thinking and French.†
Chpt 2.1
- That was my ruin, for when I was in the mud I comforted myself with the thought that at other times I was a hero, and the hero was a cloak for the mud: for an ordinary man it was shameful to defile himself, but a hero was too lofty to be utterly defiled, and so he might defile himself.†
Chpt 2.2
- The look in those eyes was coldly detached, sullen, as it were utterly remote; it weighed upon me.†
Chpt 2.6
- I recalled, too, that during those two hours I had not said a single word to this creature, and had, in fact, considered it utterly superfluous; in fact, the silence had for some reason gratified me.†
Chpt 2.6
- They have become utterly vile, and nothing on earth is viler, more loathsome, and more insulting than their abuse.†
Chpt 2.7
- And it went off all right; all this was uttered very easily, unconstrainedly and complacently.†
Chpt 2.8 *uttered = said (or make a sound) with the voice
- I defended myself, "if I really may be allowed to defend myself," by alleging that being utterly unaccustomed to wine, I had been intoxicated with the first glass, which I said, I had drunk before they arrived, while I was waiting for them at the Hotel de Paris between five and six o'clock.†
Chpt 2.8utterly = completely or totally
- I was particularly pleased with a certain lightness, almost carelessness (strictly within the bounds of politeness, however), which was apparent in my style, and better than any possible arguments, gave them at once to understand that I took rather an independent view of "all that unpleasantness last night"; that I was by no means so utterly crushed as you, my friends, probably imagine; but on the contrary, looked upon it as a gentleman serenely respecting himself should look upon it.†
Chpt 2.8
- All at once, A PROPOS of nothing, he would walk softly and smoothly into my room, when I was pacing up and down or reading, stand at the door, one hand behind his back and one foot behind the other, and fix upon me a stare more than severe, utterly contemptuous.†
Chpt 2.8
- You doubtlessly mean to say something, but hide your last word through fear, because you have not the resolution to utter it, and only have a cowardly impudence.†
Chpt 1.11
- I ought to have guessed the truth from the timidity with which she had repeatedly approached her sarcasm, only bringing herself to utter it at last with an effort.†
Chpt 2.6
Definitions:
-
(1)
(utter as in: utter stupidity) complete or total (used as an intensifier--typically when stressing how bad something is)
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(2)
(utter as in: utter a complaint) say something or make a sound with the voice
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(3)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Less commonly, and archaically, utter can mean to let out.