How to use overtone in a sentence

22 example sentences · noun, verb

Overtone means a tone whose frequency is an integer multiple of another; a member of the harmonic series. Example: “This cabernet has slight juglandaceous overtones.”

Examples of overtone by meaning

nounAn implicit message (in a film, book, verbal discussion, or similar) perceived as overwhelming the explicit message.

There were shouts of derision and mockery—a great overtone of acrid derision—the flag and its owner ignominiously disappeared.1918–1921 (date written), D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “XX Settembre”, in Aaron’s Rod, New York, N.Y.: Thomas Seltzer, published April 1922...

nounAn implicit message (in a film, book, verbal discussion, or similar) perceived subtly alongside, but not overwhelming...

With the exception of some overtones of irritation about the manner in which another aircraft, N799Y, affected the flight's progress into the Juneau area, the recorded cockpit conversation, in general, reflects a relaxed but businesslike atmosphere.1972 October 13, National Transportation Safety Board, “2.1 Analysis”, in Aircraft Accident Report: Alaska Airlines, Inc., Boeing 727...

verbTo give an overtone to.

The background is now rendered by using meadow green with a stick pastel around the lower area under the lynx in an irregular fashion, and overtoning the areas closer to the animal with an irregular application of leaf green color.1977, Sol Dember, Steven A. Dember, Jeffrey H. Dember, Drawing & painting the world of animals, page 55
Can you imagine, finally, the opening of Janácek's Sinfonietta, with its richly overtoned, overlapping fanfares, performed not by brass but by a consort of oboes—even very loud ones?2011, Jerrold Levinson, Music, Art, and Metaphysics

More sentences with overtone

This cabernet has slight juglandaceous overtones.From the entry juglandaceous
In fact, the fratty overtones of the “bro” prefix are misleading.[2016 July 18, Wesley Yiin, “The grown men who love ‘My Little Pony’ aren’t who you think they are”, in The Washington Post, Washington…. From the entry pegasister
Reich’s real discovery here is the power of the overtone series and of psychoacoustic effects.2009 July 27, Allan Kozinn, “2 Pianists in Supple, Flowing Dialogue”, in New York Times. From the entry psychoacoustic
Both of these social acts (evils) are or have overtones of being religious-genocides—Judaocide and Islamicide.2009, Kenneth Vaux, America in God's World, page 82. From the entry Islamicide
To him, they are battles over rival belief systems, which may or may not have religious overtones.2008 July 21, Steve Paulson, “Religion is Poetry”, in Salon, archived from the original on 30 Aug 2017. From the entry ether
But this fly-on-the-wall study of teenage outsiderdom gradually takes on darker overtones.2007 December 9, Dennis Lim, “It's His World; She Was Just Filming It”, in New York Times. From the entry outsiderdom
Early on, the trail passes a tiny cedar lake with Tolkienish overtones.1989, Jack Christie, Day Trips from Vancouver, page 55. From the entry Tolkienish
Talking about racial overtones, whose insurance company does he think he's working for, am I right Dan?1975, William Gaddis, J R, page 323. From the entry am I right
No waitress could hold out against their mingled overtones of gratitude and mammary organs.1938, Samuel Beckett, Murphy, New York, N.Y.: Grove Press, published 1957, →ISBN, page 83. From the entry cowjuice
One account of a religious movement organized around spirit-possession and magical practices with millenarian overtones comes from official Chinese sources.1994, Ronald D. Schwartz, “Conclusion: The Dimensions of Tibetan Nationalism”, in Circle of Protest: Political Ritual in the Tibetan…. From the entry Amdo
The ritual, which Rosenfeld has aptly described as very Buñuelesque in its religious overtones, is quite effective symbolically.1975, Donald A. Yates, Otros mundos, otros fuegos, page 370. From the entry Buñuelesque
This, of course, with overtones of profound sentiment.1922, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and Damned, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, book 2. From the entry Nietzschean
The quartet singing the liturgical music hears a fifth voice, the quintina, emerge — an acoustic effect of combined overtones, or so one might rationalize.2013, Regula Burckhardt Qureshi, Music and Marx: Ideas, Practice, Politics, page 152. From the entry quintina
And grey – in particular grey flannel, which in Episode Sport’s autumn collection takes on a soft yet durable, jeansy feel (with masculine overtones).1998 August 11, Belinda Morris, “Fashion: This is my fast-track suit”, in The Independent, number 3,687, London: Independent News & Media…. From the entry jeansy
Wherever one looks the rate of change on the international scene has achieved dizzying proportions, often with ominous overtones for United States interests.1975 April 11, Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr., “Uncle Sam: No More Mr. Nice Guy”, in The New York Times. From the entry precipitator
Whitney’s work creates a great visual heat and internal pressure — an alloverness that reflects his careful study of Pollock — but, of course, it also has symbolic overtones.2015 July 16, Roberta Smith, “Review: Stanley Whitney’s Paintings Reinvent the Grid”, in New York Times. From the entry alloverness
This supremely decadent rite, apparently intended as a protoecumenical bonding ceremony, only succeeded in creating a scandal for its esotericism, anti-Semitic overtones, and its utter pointlessness.2006, Robert Bird, The Russian Prospero: The Creative Universe of Viacheslav Ivanov, page 12. From the entry protoecumenical
In his speech at Dacca, Curzon put forward his notorious plan of 'bifurcating Bengal' (as he preferred to call it), facading the communal overtones with the mask of good governance.2020, Jaydip Sarkar, Rupayan Mukherjee (editors), Partition Literature and Cinema, A Critical Introduction. From the entry facade

Meaning of overtone

noun A tone whose frequency is an integer multiple of another; a member of the harmonic series.
noun An implicit message (in a film, book, verbal discussion, or similar) perceived as overwhelming the explicit message.
noun An implicit message (in a film, book, verbal discussion, or similar) perceived subtly alongside, but not overwhelming, the explicit message.

Full definition of overtone

Questions about overtone in a sentence

How do you use overtone in a sentence?: Overtone is used as a noun and verb. For example: “This cabernet has slight juglandaceous overtones.”
What is a short sentence with overtone?: “This cabernet has slight juglandaceous overtones.”
What does overtone mean?: Overtone means a tone whose frequency is an integer multiple of another; a member of the harmonic series.

Adapted from Wiktionary: overtone (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use overtone in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/overtone. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.