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utterance meaning and examples

2025-09-08

Meaning

An utterance is something spoken, said, or expressed aloud. It refers to a short piece of spoken language, a remark, or a statement. In linguistics, it means a complete unit of speech, often bounded by silence.

Grammar and Usage

  • Part of speech: Noun (countable/uncountable).

  • Typical structure:

    • "make an utterance"
    • "an utterance of [emotion/word]"
    • "short/brief utterance"

Common Phrases

  • make an utterance
  • a single utterance
  • slip of utterance
  • utterance of truth

Collocations

  • verb + utterance: make, hear, record, suppress
  • adjective + utterance: short, single, clear, emotional
  • noun + of + utterance: tone of utterance, slip of utterance

Examples

  1. His utterance shocked everyone in the room.
  2. The teacher listened carefully to each student’s utterance.
  3. A single utterance of apology was enough to calm the situation.
  4. The baby’s first utterance brought joy to her parents.
  5. Politicians are often judged by their public utterances.
  6. She made no utterance during the meeting.
  7. Every utterance of the actor was carefully rehearsed.
  8. He recorded her utterances for linguistic research.
  • remark
  • statement
  • comment
  • expression
  • speech

Antonym

  • silence
  • quiet