What's the difference between growl and mutter?

Growl


Definition:

  • (v. i.) To utter a deep guttural sound, sa an angry dog; to give forth an angry, grumbling sound.
  • (v. t.) To express by growling.
  • (n.) The deep, threatening sound made by a surly dog; a grumbling sound.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Exerting himself at high altitude has left his voice a throaty growl.
  • (2) Feline affective defense behavior, characterized mainly by autonomic arousal, ear retraction, growling, hissing and paw striking, was elicited by electrical stimulation of the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (VMH).
  • (3) Most dogs give a series of increasingly serious warning signs before they lose their tempers: lick their lips, blink, turn their heads away, curl their lip, lower their ears, wrinkle their foreheads, and if the dog that's annoying them doesn't get the message, they may growl or bare their teeth, and if that's still not enough it will be head and chest forward, muscles flexed, and bang, you've had it.
  • (4) Separatists have squatted in his office, masked gunmen roam the streets with impunity, and Russia – the giant, growling neighbour – threatens to invade.
  • (5) There are highlights, among them the Foo Fighters' energising effect on a flagging audience, the noise the same audience makes when James Blunt appears - half cheer, half menacing low growl - and Madonna's unexpected duet with Eugene Hutz of thrillingly dissolute gypsy punks Gogol Bordello.
  • (6) Injections of carbachol (CCh) through a chronic cannula into the midbrain periaqueductal grey region (PAG) of the cat induced an emotional-defensive response (EDR) which was evaluated by duration and number of growls in a 30-min experimental session.
  • (7) Territorial males produce grunts, moans and growls during courtship.
  • (8) Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a poem that succeeds through a series of vivid contrasts: standard English contrasting with colloquial speech; the devotion and virtue of the young knight contrasting with the growling threats of his green foe; exchanges of courtly love contrasting with none-too-subtle sexual innuendo; exquisite robes and priceless crowns contrasting with spurting blood and the steaming organs of butchered animals; polite, indoor society contrasting with the untamed, unpredictable outdoors.
  • (9) The kind of thing that makes me growl, "Too much film school, not enough living."
  • (10) The somatic and autonomic displays which accompanied defensive behavior were similar between stimuli, consisting of mydriasis, piloerection, growling, hissing and paw strikes.
  • (11) pupil dilatation, piloerection, retraction of the ears, arching of the back, hissing, howling and growling) known as the 'defence reaction'.
  • (12) That’s not what I want!’” Facebook Twitter Pinterest There’s no mad staring or growled threats with the real-life Statham.
  • (13) Another was interrupted by men making growling noises and pouncing gestures when she stood up to speak in a leopard-print jacket .
  • (14) Julianne Moore was named best actress for her performance as a demented Hollywood diva in David Cronenberg's Maps to the Stars, while Britain's Timothy Spall won the best actor prize for his grunting, growling masterclass as marine painter JMW Turner in Mike Leigh's period drama Mr Turner .
  • (15) Affective defense behavior elicited from the midbrain central gray is characterized by marked vocalization such as hissing and growling, pupillary dilatation, urination and piloerection.
  • (16) Suddenly she disappeared behind my parked car and I heard a squeal, followed by guttural growling.
  • (17) Structural analysis of the upper respiratory tract of O. hannah suggests that the "growl" is produced by tracheal diverticula functioning as low-frequency resonating chambers.
  • (18) "It wasn't the best first half, but when it cut back to the studio and they were moaning and groaning and saying there was nothing to say about the game it kind of made me growl at the TV wishing I'd been paid to go on holiday by work to do the slightest bit of analysis.
  • (19) DLH injections within a greater extent of the PAG elicited other facio-vocal changes characteristic of defence, such as hissing or growling, but these were not accompanied by significant cardiovascular changes.
  • (20) Jack Whitehall won king of comedy for the third year running, and I found myself shouting out “shame!” and, inexplicably, “class war!” When the filming ended people started asking me to do interviews, but I growled them away because he’d gone and I was just me.

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."