mutter

verb

mut·ter ˈmə-tər

muttered; muttering; mutters

Synonyms of mutter next

intransitive verb

: to utter sounds or words indistinctly or with a low voice and with the lips partly closed

… he gestured and muttered furiously in his lawyer's ear.—

Tana French

: to murmur complainingly or angrily : grumble

Some employees muttered about the changes in the pension plan.

transitive verb

: to utter especially in a low or imperfectly articulated manner

muttered an apology

mutter noun

mutterer

ˈmə-tər-ər

noun

Examples of mutter in a Sentence

She angrily muttered something about her bad luck. She sat practicing her speech, muttering to herself. Some employees are muttering about the changes in the pension plan.

Recent Examples on the Web What those two kinds of trouble are, nobody will ever know since Dulli mutters the words and buries them in the mix, giving them a twilight-like opacity. —

Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 10 Nov. 2023 Snowman ignored the headlines about their winning bid (close to a million dollars, the highest ever paid for a lighthouse), and some muttering about self-indulgent one-per-centers. —

Dorothy Wickenden, The New Yorker, 30 Oct. 2023 Year by year, their relationship grew worse, eventually deteriorating to the point that Eric would shut down at the first sign of conflict, muttering a few monosyllabic responses before escaping to the local tavern. —

Cody Cottier, Discover Magazine, 25 Oct. 2023 The woman, who was being flown to a burn unit in Honolulu, had only been able to mutter Mr. Allen’s name and his phone number. —

Mike Baker, New York Times, 30 Sep. 2023 The third day of Tom Girardi’s competency hearing was well underway Wednesday morning when the once-formidable trial attorney muttered an insult to the federal prosecutor leading the criminal case against him. —

Matt Hamilton, Los Angeles Times, 13 Sep. 2023 Awarded the Asian Filmmaker of the Year award at Busan in October, Leung muttered a few thanks, beamed and stepped away from the podium. —

Patrick Frater, Variety, 2 Sep. 2023 Vic revives me every time, muttering impossible spells. —

Bryan Washington, The New Yorker, 29 Aug. 2023 Asked if the oversight meeting was the first time internal affairs officials had seen the video, Alanis appeared to mutter something to Greer. —

Kelli Smith, Dallas News, 16 Aug. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'mutter.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.