What's the difference between groan and mutter?

Groan


Definition:

  • (v. i.) To give forth a low, moaning sound in breathing; to utter a groan, as in pain, in sorrow, or in derision; to moan.
  • (v. i.) To strive after earnestly, as with groans.
  • (v. t.) To affect by groans.
  • (n.) A low, moaning sound; usually, a deep, mournful sound uttered in pain or great distress; sometimes, an expression of strong disapprobation; as, the remark was received with groans.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) For the final three visible minutes, Lockett writhed, groaned, attempted to lift himself off the gurney and tried to speak, despite a doctor having declared him unconscious.
  • (2) If I give a conference here, people groan when I talk about him.
  • (3) Of the Iraqi people, groaning under years of dictatorship.
  • (4) We meet at the headquarters of the Independent and the Evening Standard in Kensington, in an office scented by a Jo Malone orange blossom candle, and groaning with contemporary art.
  • (5) Clippard gets ahead of him 0-2, throws a high fastball which Carpenter refuses to chase and then takes two more balls to the collective groan of Nationals Park.
  • (6) Despite the world-weary tone of a brutal review in the New York Times, which suggested that it added nothing new to the "groaning shelf" of homosexual literature, a story with an unashamedly gay protagonist unleashed a storm of protest in a country where sodomy was still illegal.
  • (7) It's the first interview he's done since his marriage and divorce and the split-up of the Ordinary Boys, and it all comes rushing out in a spate, a tangle of chronological confusions and jokes, and groans when I quote some of his old interviews back at him, and statements of contrition, and digressions about Dawkins or whatever, and here's the confounding thing - he's really nothing like I was expecting, not indie-boy sulky, or attempting to play it cool, he's just talkative and engaging, and he has a sense of humour about himself that, from reading his previous interviews, I wouldn't have even guessed at.
  • (8) Not all the jokes land, and some of the tastelessness may inspire groans.
  • (9) A s the schools break up for summer, the shelves of Britain’s retailers are groaning with “half price” sun protection cream offers, ready for families heading to the beach.
  • (10) The retired appeal court judge's report, which runs to three volumes, found that troops from 1st Battalion Queen's Lancashire Regiment inflicted "gratuitous" violence on a group of 10 Iraqi civilians, who were kicked and hit in turn, "causing them to emit groans and other noises and thereby playing them like musical instruments".
  • (11) "Oh God," groaned a delegate leafing through the guide to fringe meetings.
  • (12) There were groans as Clinton was declared victorious, although there was also defiance.
  • (13) Read more The MEPs responded to his oration with a mixture of boos, groans, shouts and ironic applause.
  • (14) The family justice review speculates that the cost of the entire groaning, overloaded family court system – only likely to be exacerbated after Thursday's report into the death of another toddler, Ryan Lovell Hancox – could be in the region of £1.5bn.
  • (15) The home fans groaned whenever the ball went near the Romanian, Benteke often pulled away to the left to unsettle him, and Villa’s opener came after he conceded possession cheaply inside his own half.
  • (16) Meanwhile, New York and New Jersey groaned back to life after travel bans.
  • (17) "There's a stereotype of a groaning bodybuilding guy using the weights area," says McGown.
  • (18) I'd groan at gossip magazines, furious with the world's asinine obsession with celebrity, disappointed by women gazing doe-eyed at the camera with vulnerable, save-me expressions on their Botoxed faces.
  • (19) Between their inward groans and suppressed giggles, the friends recognised something of great value, a familiar form no other artist had yet nicked.
  • (20) I can think of many things, of whether we summon the strength to recognise the global challenge of the 21st century and beat it, of the Iraqi people groaning under years of dictatorship, of our armed forces - brave men and women of whom we can feel proud, whose morale is high and whose purpose is clear - of the institutions and alliances that shape our world for years to come.

Mutter


Definition:

  • (v. i.) To utter words indistinctly or with a low voice and lips partly closed; esp., to utter indistinct complaints or angry expressions; to grumble; to growl.
  • (v. i.) To sound with a low, rumbling noise.
  • (v. t.) To utter with imperfect articulations, or with a low voice; as, to mutter threats.
  • (n.) Repressed or obscure utterance.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) When accused of muttering it while reciting Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Mo, during filming of BBC2s Top Gear, he said he had not, that he would absolutely never use "the most racist word of them all".
  • (2) It's the kind of TV that makes for a wipe-your-weekend-plans box set: the ending of every crack-fix of an episode had me twitchily reaching for the remote to a muttered internal monologue of: "Next one, next one, now, now…" Danes carries the series as the bipolar CIA agent Carrie Mathison, whose furious vigilance is hard to distinguish from pathological mania as she investigates, and ultimately falls for, Sergeant Brody (Damian Lewis), a Marine who may or may not be a terrorist after eight years held captive by al-Qaida.
  • (3) Brownites used to mutter bitterly about their hero for failing to compete with Tony Blair after the death of John Smith.
  • (4) And that voice like a whip-crack: impish, transgressive, swooping from a mutter to a scream.
  • (5) Sampson became the discreet, muttering centre of a web, connected by telephone and letter, telegram and fax, to an astounding cast of world leaders and commentarians, film stars and novelists.
  • (6) For what it's worth, Labour lost on a whopping great 18% swing to the Tories, yet despite an awful lot of muttering absolutely nothing happened.
  • (7) True, he has trounced them so thoroughly that any mutterings of future challenges are an empty blast of sour breath.
  • (8) Two years as a minister is plenty of time to stack up enemies, or at least a few mutterings that you’ve made a hash of the job.
  • (9) Obviously it should be scoffed down in a box set, like a Supersize V Superskinny obese person's enormo-breakfast, before a period of lying green-faced in a darkened room, listening to experimental jazz, muttering, "Carrie can't let another mistake happen!
  • (10) "It's going to destroy property prices in this area," muttered one.
  • (11) As he checks the woman’s heart with a stethoscope, he explains exactly what is about to happen to her – the nurses will hook her up to an EKG machine, among other procedures – and gets the woman to lie down, still muttering at the original nurse but pliable.
  • (12) "Any politician that claims to you that they're an ordinary person is not telling you the truth," Miliband mutters, half smiling and wincing.
  • (13) Even the most fervent haters of the BBC can only mutter and mumble when Attenborough productions are mentioned.
  • (14) It was a misjudgment in the heat of the moment.” The forlorn-looking Formula One world champion muttered: “I can’t really express the way I’m feeling at the moment so I won’t attempt to.
  • (15) Not via muttering idiots, but upfront, with an acrid twist.
  • (16) He’s not just a straight-talker, he’s a man who reliably says the things politicians dream their opponents will be caught muttering within range of forgotten radio-mics – except he declaims them on a podium in front of thousands.
  • (17) ", seconds before splashing about in the sub-zero Atlantic muttering "bugger".
  • (18) Bit of muttering about justifying selling one's own grandmother Updated at 1.21pm BST 1.06pm BST As Barb Jacobson, of the European Citizen's initiative for a basic income, puts it, a basic income should be high enough for everyone to have a dignified life in society, and to take part in society.
  • (19) One woman muttered angrily to her companion: "It is the dumbing down of America."
  • (20) Some of the mutterings from Threadneedle Street are not the stuff to give the troops."