intone
Americanverb (used with object)
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to utter with a particular tone or voice modulation.
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to give tone or variety of tone to; vocalize.
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to utter in a singing voice (the first tones of a section in a liturgical service).
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to recite or chant in monotone.
verb (used without object)
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to speak or recite in a singing voice, especially in monotone; chant.
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Music. to produce a tone, or a particular series of tones, like a scale, especially with the voice.
verb
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to utter, recite, or sing (a chant, prayer, etc) in a monotonous or incantatory tone
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(intr) to speak with a particular or characteristic intonation or tone
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to sing (the opening phrase of a psalm, etc) in plainsong
Other Word Forms
- half-intoned adjective
- intoner noun
- unintoned adjective
Etymology
Origin of intone
1475–85; < Medieval Latin intonāre; replacing earlier entone < Middle French entoner < Medieval Latin; in- 2, tone
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A prayer was said, a hymn sung; Leah intoned a series of questions to begin their conversation with the dead.
From Literature
"Holiday let, second home, second home, holiday let, second home, holiday let," she intones.
From BBC
“It doesn’t matter. The question is moot,” Jackson intones, before launching into a miniature stump speech.
From Salon
“The past was a very brutal place,” he intoned solemnly.
From Literature
Nevertheless: “Once more you drown one of your own in the inky depths of democracy,” Cumming intones after Funches poignantly exits.
From Salon
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
