intonation
/ɪntəˈneɪʃən/ noun
Forms intonations
- noun (linguistics) The rise and fall of the voice in speaking.
- noun Emotive stress used to increase the power of delivery in speech.
- noun A sound made by, or resembling that made by, a musical instrument.
- noun Singing or playing in good tune or otherwise. “Her intonation was false.”
- noun Reciting in a musical prolonged tone; intonating or singing of the opening phrase of a plain-chant, psalm, or canticle by a single voice, as of a priest.
Synonyms
Etymology
From French intonation, from Medieval Latin intonatio, from intonō + -tiō.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A thundering; thunder. [Obs.] Bailey.
Etymology [See 1st Intonate.]
Etymology [Cf. F. intonation. See Intone.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “intonation”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details