intone

[in-tohn]

verb (used with object)

intoned, intoning 

1. to utter with a particular tone or voice modulation.

2. to give tone or variety of tone to; vocalize.

3. to utter in a singing voice (the first tones of a section in a liturgical service).

4. to recite or chant in monotone.

verb (used without object)

intoned, intoning 

1. to speak or recite in a singing voice, especially in monotone; chant.

2. Music.,  to produce a tone, or a particular series of tones, like a scale, especially with the voice.

intone

/ ɪnˈtəʊn /

verb

1. to utter, recite, or sing (a chant, prayer, etc) in a monotonous or incantatory tone

2. (intr) to speak with a particular or characteristic intonation or tone

3. to sing (the opening phrase of a psalm, etc) in plainsong

Other Word Forms

• intoner noun
• half-intoned adjective
• unintoned adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of intone¹

1475–85; < Medieval Latin intonāre; replacing earlier entone < Middle French entoner < Medieval Latin; in- ², tone

Word History and Origins

Origin of intone¹

C15: from Medieval Latin intonare, from _in- ² + _tone

Example Sentences

If You're Glad I'll Be Frank imagined the speaking clock as a real woman speaking live, her internal monologue utterly at odds with the deadening repetitiveness of endlessly intoning "at the third stroke..."

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“Alas, poor spud!” she had just done intoning, Hamlet-like, to the withered potato, which was now furry with mold.

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“In honor of the great orations of antiquity,” Alexander intoned.

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“Now is when the Veil will part, but it will not stay open for long,” she intoned, looking around.

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“There is curse on the wolf babies, and on their kin,” she intoned.

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Related Words

• articulate 
• chant 
• croon 
• recite 
• sing