intone
Americanverb (used with object)
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intones,
present (3rd person singular)
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intoned,
past participle, past
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intoning
present participle
-
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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intones,
present (3rd person singular)
-
intoned,
past participle, past
-
intoning
present participle
-
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
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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intonesimple
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intonessimple
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have intonedperfect
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has intonedperfect
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am intoningprogressive
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are intoningprogressive
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is intoningprogressive
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have been intoningperfect progressive
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has been intoningperfect progressive
Past
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intonedsimple
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had intonedperfect
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was intoningprogressive
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were intoningprogressive
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had been intoningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of intone
1475–85; < Medieval Latin intonāre; replacing earlier entone < Middle French entoner < Medieval Latin; see in- 2, tone
Explanation
To intone is to to chant in a flat voice. When you recite a poem you had to memorize in English class, you're likely to intone the lines without much expression. You might intone bad news over the phone, bluntly and unemotionally, and librarians often intone a low command to keep the noise down in the library. People reciting prayers usually intone them as well. In the fourteenth century, the word was entunen, "sing, chant or recite," from a Latin root, intonare, "sing according to tone."
Vocabulary lists containing intone
Number the Stars
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Bless Me, Ultima
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Purple Hibiscus
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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.
See Examples For:
Those are the first words of the military Oath of Enlistment—the words that new members of the military, with right hands raised, intone as they join the service.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 29, 2026
“The answer is always yes,” she’d intone when I’d call.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 15, 2024
The actors intone and belt out slogans from the 19th-century text while Nackt and a drummer accompany them with a wild, mostly electronic score.
From New York Times ● May 25, 2023
Akbar ceased performing the obligatory five prayers that Muslims must intone every day and began to worship “divine light.”
From Textbooks ● Dec. 14, 2022
Seven raised her hands, about to intone a spell that made shadows look like monstruos, when the cuco let out a piercing scream and spun around toward Seven.
From "Witchlings" by Claribel A. Ortega
"Holiday let, second home, second home, holiday let, second home, holiday let," she intones.
From BBC ● Feb. 25, 2026
Nevertheless: “Once more you drown one of your own in the inky depths of democracy,” Cumming intones after Funches poignantly exits.
From Salon ● Jan. 28, 2026
A singer intones a haunting melody—“It’s been a long time and still we are not free.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 5, 2025
But “count no mortal happy till / he has passed the final limit of his life secure from pain,” as the chorus intones at the end of Sophocles’ tragedy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 13, 2025
“San Miguel,” Chucha intones, “protect this house from all enemies. Expel the bad. Bring all to safety who dwell within. Amen.”
From "Before We Were Free" by Julia Alvarez
"It's going to be he and I going to November," Bianco intoned at a recent televised debate, nodding towards Hilton.
From Barron's ● May 5, 2026
“This is from the all-new Proxie, for her husband of 35 years, Eddie,” Angel Baby’s dulcet voice intoned.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2025
"Carrageenan, riboflavin, monosodium glutamate and 20 others that I can’t pronounce," he said, as one of the "MAHA moms" gravely intoned, "that stuff's really bad."
From Salon ● Mar. 26, 2025
He was joined on stage by the song's producer, Mustard, who clutched a football while sporting the world's baggiest jeans - before Lamar pointed an imaginary remote control at the camera and intoned, "Game Over".
From BBC ● Feb. 9, 2025
“I will accept that responsibility on behalf of all my brothers,” my uncle Pedro intoned.
From "Bless Me, Ultima" by Rudolfo Anaya
The eerie mood is accentuated by an introductory film projected on the distant stone and a twangy voice intoning excerpts from the Lincoln speeches etched in the atrium above ground.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
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..."
From BBC ● Nov. 29, 2025
The intoning of memento mori seeds a joyful duty toward the pursuit of human longevity as an act of grateful humility before the wonder of life.
From Salon ● Aug. 27, 2023
He invokes family and faith, joined by Michael Stipe from R.E.M. intoning, “Oh me, oh my”; it’s thick with atmosphere and memory, offering no conclusions.
From New York Times ● Jan. 13, 2023
The Gran finished what she had begun, intoning, “Sapo!” and issuing one final devastating blow to the three imposter Uncles.
From "Witchlings" by Claribel A. Ortega
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.
