Literary notes about utter (AI summary)
The word "utter" is employed in literature with a striking duality, serving both as a verb meaning to express speech and as an adjective intensifying a state or quality. In its verbal form, characters struggle or fail to utter words in moments of profound emotion or shock, as seen when agony leaves one unable to articulate feelings [1] or when a person is rendered speechless by surprise [2]. As an adjective, "utter" underscores totality or extremity—depicting complete chaos [3], absolute loneliness [4], or unmitigated despair [5]. This versatile usage allows writers to infuse language with both literal and evocative layers, deepening the narrative impact by enriching both dialogue and description [6], [7].
- In such moments as these everything is agony, and some words are impossible to utter.
— from Father Goriot by Honoré de Balzac - I was stupefied with surprise: I knew not what to say; not a word could I utter.
— from The Confessions of Jean Jacques Rousseau — Complete by Jean-Jacques Rousseau - The curtain falls upon a scene of bloodshed and utter confusion.
— from English Literature by William J. Long - Thus the sentiment of immediate loss in some sort decayed, while that of utter, irremediable loneliness grew on me with time.
— from The Last Man by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley - But such intense longing and such utter dependence can never be good.
— from The Hungry Stones, and Other Stories by Rabindranath Tagore - No ear but thine must hear what I have to utter.”
— from The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole - my knights are sworn to vows Of utter hardihood, utter gentleness, And, loving, utter faithfulness in love, And uttermost obedience to the King.'
— from Idylls of the King by Baron Alfred Tennyson Tennyson
