How to use tone in a sentence
40 example sentences · noun, verb, pronoun
Tone means a specific pitch. Example: “Children often read with a tone.”
Examples of tone by meaning
nounA whining style of speaking; a kind of mournful or artificial strain of voice; an affected speaking with a measured...
- Children often read with a tone.
nounThe shade or quality of a colour.
- We make crude visual distinctions and effectively meaningless categorizations based on average skin tones, such as black or white.2017, Adam Rutherford, A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived, The Experiment, →ISBN, page 81
nounThe favourable effect of a picture produced by the combination of light and shade, or of colours.
- This picture has tone.
nounA gun.
- But nigga don't step wrong, cuz 8ball keep a tone1993, “9 Little Millimeta Boys”, in 8Ball (lyrics), Comin' Out Hard
- M.A.C.T.D.O.G got the tone so hoe you know it's on1994, “Murda In Da 1st Degree”, in Princess Loko (lyrics), Ashes 2 Ashes, Dust 2 Dust
- Got the tone to ya head yo life flashing right front your eyes2002, “Mouth Write a Check”, in Project Pat (lyrics), Layin' da Smack Down
nounThe general character, atmosphere, mood, or vibe (of a situation, place, etc.).
- Her rousing speech gave an upbeat tone to the rest of the evening.
- Clair West is done it will change the tone of the neighbourhood.2016 December 30, Francine Kopun, “Sleepy Yonge and St. Clair gets a makeover”, in Toronto Star
nounThe quality of being respectable or admirable.
- "I am going to raise the tone of the business.1904, May Sinclair, The Divine Fire, H. Holt, page 340
- The teaching we have had of late has lowered the tone of Christianity, as the remarks by the two gentlemen who preceded me will attest; and, instead of producing stalwart manhood, it has generated a brood of mountebanks.1911, Charles Augustus Jenkens, The Bride's Return, Or, How Grand Avenue Church Came to Christ, C.H. Robinson, page 67
- But Mr Fagan said the tone of the street was brought down by the presence of people he termed "the Gatwickians" — residents of a rooming house called the Gatwick Private Hotel.2015 July 9, Simon Leo Brown, “St Kilda's Fitzroy Street left to rot says hotel owner”, in ABC News
More sentences with tone
- The colloquial, and at times sarcastic, tone of her books makes her popular with teenagers.From the entry colloquial
- For those seeking purply tones, the paint colors available include mauve, magenta, and grape.From the entry grape
- The orchestra's third violin several times was sharp about an eighth of a tone.From the entry sharp
- That new musician must be tone deaf: he sharped half the notes of the song!From the entry sharp
- The difference between the tones is subtle, but you can hear it if you listen carefully.From the entry subtle
- Note the shift in tone between the first verse and the second.From the entry verse
- Ask them to tone down that orange and pink color scheme a bit.From the entry tone down
- I hope they’ll tone it down and stop arguing so much.From the entry tone down
- Quit talking to me in that condescending tone! You always treat me like a child!From the entry condescending
- The patient was in shock and had a dusky skin tone.From the entry dusky
- The setting sunlight played through the gently waving branches, creating subtly nuanced transitions of color and tone.From the entry nuanced
- With their super-formal tone and heavy use of jargon, legal documents are renowned for their pomposity.From the entry pomposity
- Examples of glottalization include creaky voice, and the interrupted tones of Vietnamese.From the entry glottalization
- The tone of the paper strikes a happy medium between layman approachability and technical accuracy.From the entry happy medium
- He was talking in earnest, even though his speech carried an ironic tone.From the entry in earnest
- The most frequent occurrence of tone sandhi in Mandarin Chinese occurs in the third tone.From the entry tone sandhi
- More conical backbores give a richer tone, while more cylindrical ones give a brighter, more projected tone.From the entry backbore
- This cello has a terrible wolf tone on the D string.From the entry wolf tone
- That color paint really tones with the look of your house.From the entry tone with
- Military letters should be formal in tone, but not stilted.From the entry in
- A novel writer will usually spell out Arabics from one to nine, to accord with the tone of the genre.From the entry arabic
- You need to tone down the rhetoric.From the entry down
- He delivered the speech in a flat tone.From the entry flat
- His tone was apologetic as he explained what had happened.From the entry apologetic
- The author’s tone grows pensive in the final chapters.From the entry pensive
- The tuner deepened the tone of the organ.From the entry deepen
- His irritated tone made the situation worse.From the entry irritated
- He took on an interrogative tone of voice.From the entry interrogative
- The brushwork on the skin tones was masterful.From the entry masterful
Meaning of tone
- noun A specific pitch.
- noun (in the diatonic scale) An interval of a major second.
- noun (in a Gregorian chant) A recitational melody.
Questions about tone in a sentence
- How do you use tone in a sentence?
- Tone is used as a noun, verb and pronoun. For example: “Children often read with a tone.”
- What is a short sentence with tone?
- “This picture has tone.”
- What does tone mean?
- Tone means a specific pitch.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: tone (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.
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Cite this page: “How to use tone in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/tone. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.