175 Tone Words: The Ultimate List To Describe Author's Tone

As a writer, you know how important it is to choose the right word for the meaning you’re trying to convey.

And part of that is knowing what tone words are and which one to use in a particular context. 

The wrong one is like an errant note in an otherwise flawless performance. Even if it has the same dictionary definition, it just doesn’t sound right. 

But where do you go to find the words with just the right tone and cadence to make the sentence flow as it should? 

Welcome to our ultimate list of tone words. 

Tone in writing is like the voice or mood that jumps off the page when you’re reading a story or an article. For example, when listening to your favorite song notice how it can make you feel happy, sad, excited, or calm.

Tone in writing works the same way but through words. It’s the writer’s way of showing their point of view toward the subject or the audience.

Understanding tone is like being a detective for feelings and attitudes, helping you get the real vibe of what you’re reading. It makes reading more colorful and helps you connect with the written words.

Any tone words list (worth the time it takes to make it) should provide the fuller meaning of each word — i.e., not just the denotation (dictionary definition) but it’s connotations, too. 

For this tone words list, you’ll see each tone word example explained with a short definition or with synonyms that have the same general tone.  

All you have to do is open a thesaurus to find synonyms for a particular word to realize that some of those words do NOT have the tone you’re looking for.

Some are obviously negative. Some are positive. And the rest are more or less neutral. 

Related: 111 Negative Adjectives To Describe A Person

The tone word you need for the moment is the one that evokes the right emotions and that allows your sentence to flow without speed bumps.  

Positive tone words are those that evoke positive emotions.

If you hear a person described in words with a positive tone, you’re more likely to think favorably of them, even before you’ve met.

Anything described in negative tone words is likely to leave you with a bad impression, whether the thing described is a place, a book, or a group of people.

Choose your words carefully. If this is a time for honest negativity, this list will help you find the right words.

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Some negative tone words leave you with an impression of sadness rather than disgust or anger.

Here’s a sampling of these, most of them described using other sad tone words.

When you want a neutral tone in writing, it can be hard to find.

It doesn’t take much for us to associate words with an emotion or to feel the emotional undercurrent of a word — whether positive or negative and to whatever degree. But some neutral words remain. 

Now that you’ve looked through our list of tones, which ones stood out for you the most? What kind of tone did those words have (positive, negative, or neutral)? 

Sometimes, our moods make certain words stand out for us as more fitting or more resonant. And sometimes we just see them because we’ve used them or heard them used recently — in a way that made them stick.

I hope your life gives you plenty of reasons to use positive tone words. But some situations and contexts call for the opposite. Your current work in progress might call for plenty of the opposite. 

And in certain contexts, even the neutral tone words sound more negative than otherwise. The right context can even change the tone of words that are usually considered positive.

I hope the words you use to describe yourself are kind and encouraging. And at the end of the day, may the balance of your words leave you with a smile.