What's the difference between smatter and speak?

Smatter


Definition:

  • (v. i.) To talk superficially or ignorantly; to babble; to chatter.
  • (v. i.) To have a slight taste, or a slight, superficial knowledge, of anything; to smack.
  • (v. t.) To talk superficially about.
  • (v. t.) To gain a slight taste of; to acquire a slight, superficial knowledge of; to smack.
  • (n.) Superficial knowledge; a smattering.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The debut of the film – before an audience of business journalists, film critics and a smattering of Wonga customers – comes before a grilling by MPs in Westminster on Tuesday as calls grow for tighter curbs on payday lenders.
  • (2) The trophic value of a food cannot be ascertained from food composition tables because only a smattering of the necessary information is commonly furnished.
  • (3) They've heard the views of a smattering of North Kivu's humanitarians, politicians, businessmen, civil society types and militia leaders.
  • (4) Nothing but plain text and links, it features a smattering of links from across the web as well as personal selections by various staff of active Kickstarter projects.
  • (5) As ever, there were a smattering of terrifyingly young GCSE students celebrating their successes.
  • (6) The village is a smattering of fishing shacks frequented by stray dogs and chickens; the sand is littered with sweet wrappers, water bottles, flip-flops and polystyrene food containers; the sea is cloudy from the dredging.
  • (7) In the face of such uncertainty, a smattering of refugees remained camped on the Hungarian border.
  • (8) There were MPs (Hilary Benn and family), a smattering of celebs, a lot of public sector workers, Unison stewards in smart purple smocks.
  • (9) Now the party, which has been dogged by allegations of financial mismanagement , has just a smattering of local councillors, and experts say that by May the UK could be "BNP-free" for the first time in a decade if Griffin fails to retain his seat in the European parliamentary elections.
  • (10) Its existing city centre has a smattering of empty shops at the foot of neglected Victorian buildings, and is noticeably short on big chains.
  • (11) That may represent a tiny fraction of the industry’s estimated sales of recorded music, but still, a means of listening to music essentially invented in the 19th century and long since presumed to be dead is growing at speed, and the presses at Optimal – along with similar facilities smattered across the UK, mainland Europe, the US and beyond – are set to grind and pump on, into the future.
  • (12) Many heartland supporters have already defected, and a smattering of leading trade unionists and Labour socialists have professed reluctant support for yes.
  • (13) Now they are smattered with artists' showrooms and craft workshops.
  • (14) It’s like a real-life computer game, with the extra dramatic dimension that if you crash you can’t just reboot,” he said, as a smattering of drone groupies pressed up against the barriers to eavesdrop on their hero.
  • (15) The former Murdoch editors Andrew Neil, David Yelland, Harold Evans and Colin Myler were all criticised personally, as were a smattering of lawyers such as Tom Crone .
  • (16) ‘Like the poshest hostage video ever’: our columnists on the Queen’s speech | Panel Read more The programme was also smattered with consumer-friendly pledges, from rolling out high-speed broadband nationwide and making it easier to switch energy supplier, to allowing local authorities to force bus firms to run more frequent services.
  • (17) There was a smattering of boos from the home supporters who had stayed to the final whistle.
  • (18) His grandmother was a leading communist, his father, Edward, a Labour voter and assistant director of education for West Sussex (before piggybacking on his son's success to become a well known broadcaster in his own right) while Enfield has always been a bit of a political maverick – liberal with a smattering of Catholic conservatism (though he's pretty much had it with God), and libertarianism (he loves a good hunt).
  • (19) Such is the "Red" part of his thinking, and the reason why his smattering of Tory fans often seem to be far outnumbered by hostile Thatcherites; as one Labour figure recently put it, "a Red Tory revolution would certainly need much blue blood to be spilled."
  • (20) I’d say to all of you please, judge us by our performance, not by our titles.” Abbott’s speech, which drew a smattering of applause from the audience, provoked a mixed reaction.

Speak


Definition:

  • (v. i.) To utter words or articulate sounds, as human beings; to express thoughts by words; as, the organs may be so obstructed that a man may not be able to speak.
  • (v. i.) To express opinions; to say; to talk; to converse.
  • (v. i.) To utter a speech, discourse, or harangue; to adress a public assembly formally.
  • (v. i.) To discourse; to make mention; to tell.
  • (v. i.) To give sound; to sound.
  • (v. i.) To convey sentiments, ideas, or intelligence as if by utterance; as, features that speak of self-will.
  • (v. t.) To utter with the mouth; to pronounce; to utter articulately, as human beings.
  • (v. t.) To utter in a word or words; to say; to tell; to declare orally; as, to speak the truth; to speak sense.
  • (v. t.) To declare; to proclaim; to publish; to make known; to exhibit; to express in any way.
  • (v. t.) To talk or converse in; to utter or pronounce, as in conversation; as, to speak Latin.
  • (v. t.) To address; to accost; to speak to.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) But when he speaks, the crowds who have come together to make a stand against government corruption and soaring fuel prices cheer wildly.
  • (2) Whittingdale also defended the right of MPs to use privilege to speak out on public interest matters.
  • (3) The cause has been innumerable "VIP movements", as journeys undertaken by those considered important enough for all other traffic to be held up, sometimes for hours, are described in South Asian bureaucratic speak.
  • (4) Many speak about how yoga and surfing complement each other, both involving deep concentration, flexibility and balance.
  • (5) Speaking to pro-market thinktank Reform, Milburn called for “more competition” and said the shadow health team were making a “fundamental political misjudgment” by attempting to roll back policies he had overseen.
  • (6) Speaking to a handpicked audience of community representatives, the prime minister said he had not allowed the EU to get its way.
  • (7) Technically speaking, this modality of brief psychotherapy is based on the nonuse of transferential interpretations, on impeding the regression od the patient, on facilitating a cognitice-affective development of his conflicts and thus obtain an internal object mutation which allows the transformation of the "past" into true history, and the "present" into vital perspectives.
  • (8) The distribution of cells at the stage of DNA synthesis and mitosis in all the parietal peritoneum speaks of the absence of special proliferation zones.
  • (9) Again, the boys in care that he abused now speak to us as broken adults.
  • (10) It’s the same story over and over.” Children’s author Philip Ardagh , who told the room he once worked as an “unprofessional librarian” in Lewisham, said: “Closing down a library is like filing off the end of a swordfish’s nose: pointless.” 'Speak up before there's nothing left': authors rally for National Libraries Day Read more “Today proves that support for public libraries comes from all walks of life and it’s not rocket science to work out why.
  • (11) Speaking in the BBC's Radio Theatre, Hall will emphasise the need for a better, simpler BBC, as part of efforts to streamline management.
  • (12) The ability to demonstrate selective augmentation of the functional matrix-associated receptor population, and our recent results showing that gonadotropes are indeed the responsive cells (Singh P, Muldoon TG, unpublished observations) speak to the specificity and relevance of these findings.
  • (13) Clare Gills, an American journalist and friend of Foley, wrote in 2013: “He is always striving to get to the next place, to get closer to what is really happening, and to understand what moves the people he’s speaking with.
  • (14) There is a certain degree of swagger, a sudden interruption of panache, as Alan Moore enters the rather sterile Waterstones office where he has agreed to speak to me.
  • (15) The debate certainly hit upon a larger issue: the tendency for people in positions of social and cultural power to tell the stories of minorities for them, rather than allowing minority communities to speak for themselves.
  • (16) Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon, People's Liberation Army's chief of the general staff Gen Fang Fenghui also warned that the US must be objective about tensions between China and Vietnam or risk harming relations between Washington and Beijing.
  • (17) Speaking at The Carbon Show in London today, Philippe Chauvancy, director at climate exchange BlueNext, said that the announcement last week that it is to develop China's first standard for voluntary emission reduction projects alongside the government-backed China Beijing Environmental Exchange, could lay the foundations for a voluntary cap-and-trade scheme.
  • (18) "There were around 50 attackers, heavily armed in three vehicles, and they were flying the Shebab flag," Maisori added, speaking from the town, where several buildings including hotels, restaurants, banks and government offices were razed to the ground.
  • (19) Maryam Namazie, an Iranian-born campaigner against religious laws, had been invited to speak to the Warwick Atheists, Secularists and Humanists Society next month.
  • (20) A doctor the Guardian later speaks to insists it makes no sense.