high-toned
Americanadjective
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having high principles; dignified.
-
having or aspiring to good taste, high standards, or refinement.
He writes for a high-toned literary review.
-
affectedly stylish or genteel.
adjective
-
having a superior social, moral, or intellectual quality
-
affectedly superior
-
high in tone
Etymology
Origin of high-toned
First recorded in 1770–80
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.
Today, the city of two million is an international gateway for travelers headed to famous ski destinations like Niseko, a high-toned village catering mostly to foreigners.
From New York Times
It was a curious book, full of high-toned musings about “the Framers’ wisdom” and “the Madisonian-designed political apparatus.”
From New York Times
That’s “Hamlet,” of course, but Robert Eggers’s new film isn’t another Shakespeare screen adaptation, bristling with Elizabethan eloquence, high-toned acting and complex, uncannily modern psychology.
From New York Times
It wants to be a high-toned nail-biter, an important history lesson and a roiling friendship drama.
From Los Angeles Times
The high-toned gig makes for a stark contrast with Spears’ ongoing legal battle over her controversial conservatorship, which Aguilera strongly condemned in a recent viral Twitter thread.
From Los Angeles Times
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.
