tone-setter

British

noun

a person or thing that establishes the quality or character that is to be followed subsequently

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

It is the tone-setter for the three days of competition.

From BBC • Sep. 22, 2025

Minnesota’s Julius Randle, the first piece of the Lakers’ post-Kobe Bryant plans, looked like the bulldozing tone-setter the team once envisioned when it took him in the first round in 2014.

From Los Angeles Times • May 1, 2025

Head was fielding at cover when Sharma, the India’s skipper and tone-setter, went to launch Maxwell into the leg-side and sliced into the off-side.

From Washington Times • Nov. 19, 2023

Second, the franchise player stepping up to take that charge — with Beal’s injury history — acted as an important tone-setter on defense.

From Washington Post • Oct. 25, 2022

“He’s definitely the Energizer Bunny. He’s the tone-setter and I think when I realized he was down it was just like ‘OK, I got to help pick the guys up.”

From Seattle Times • Dec. 5, 2021

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023