intonation
/ɪntəˈneɪʃən/ noun C2- The rise and fall of the voice in speaking.
- Emotive stress used to increase the power of delivery in speech.
- A sound made by, or resembling that made by, a musical instrument.
- Singing or playing in good tune or otherwise. · Her intonation was false.
- 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.
Plural intonations
From the library
“True,” said Madame de Villefort, with an intonation of voice which it is impossible to describe; “is it not unjust—shamefully unjust?
The honorable functionary had scarcely expressed himself thus, in that intonation which is peculiar to brigadiers of the gendarmerie, when a loud scream, accompanied by the violent ringing of a bell, resounded through the court of the hotel.
Children born in the new colony were constantly exposed to a chaotic amalgam of pronunciations, intonations, and specialized vocabularies.
Broadcasters and prominent public figures were routinely expected to employ refined British intonations to project an air of absolute professional authority.
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