Word.ws English Dictionary

intonated

intonated is the simple past and past participle of intonate.

Meaning of intonate

Verb (1)

intonate (third-person singular simple present intonates, present participle intonating, simple past and past participle intonated)

  1. (dated, intransitive, transitive) To intone or recite (words), especially emphatically or in a chanting manner.
    • […] we have no doubt whatever that the recitation of verse on the stage was of an artificial and semi-musical character. It was undoubtedly much more sustained and intonated with a slow and measured stateliness, which, whilst harmonizing it with the other circumstances of solemnity in Greek...1840 February, Thomas De Quincey, “Theory of Greek Tragedy”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume 47, number 292, page 153
  2. (dated, transitive) To say or speak with a certain intonation.
    • “Is this Mr. O’Connor’s chamber?” inquired a voice of peculiar richness, intonated not unpleasingly with a certain melodious modification of the brogue […]1845 Jun, Sheridan Le Fanu, chapter 6, in The Cock and the Anchor, volume 1, Dublin: William Curry, page 74
  3. (dated, transitive) To intone or vocalize (musical notes); to sound the tones of the musical scale; to practise the sol-fa.
    • The composer so ordered it, that the king’s part should be one holding note, in a pitch proper for a Contratenor, for that was the king’s voice. Nor was he inattentive to other particulars, for he contrived his own part, which was the Bass, in such a manner, that every other note he sung was an...1776, John Hawkins, A General History of the Science and Practice of Music, Volume 2, Book 4, Chapter 3 p. 431

Verb (2)

intonate (third-person singular simple present intonates, present participle intonating, simple past and past participle intonated)

  1. (obsolete) To thunder or to utter in a sonorous or thunderous voice.
    • But agaynst all such as contemne the holy scriptures & cast awaye the law of theyr LORDE God, wyllynge neither to enter them selues, nor yet suffryng other, christ intonateth and thonderethe on this manner […]1543, Thomas Beccon, A pleasaunt newe nosegaye full of many godly and swete floures, London: John Gough, Dedicatory epistle

Questions about intonated

What is intonated the simple past and past participle of?
Intonated is the simple past and past participle of intonate.

Words near intonated in the dictionary

  1. intonaco
  2. intonacoes
  3. intonacos
  4. intonarumori
  5. intonate
  6. intonated
  7. intonates
  8. intonating
  9. intonation
  10. intonation unit
  11. intonation units

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: intonated (page history and authors); intonate (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “intonated.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/intonated. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.