AP Language - Tone Words Flashcards

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The manner in which an author expresses his or her attitude; the intonation of the voice that expresses meaning. Tone is described by adjectives, and the possibilities are nearly endless. Often a single adjective will not be enough, and tone may change or shift from chapter to chapter or stanza to stanza or even line to line. Tone is the result of allusion, diction, figurative language, imagery, irony, motif, symbol, syntax, and style.
Very young children can sense a speaker's attitude in tone. But understanding tone in prose and poetry is an entirely different matter. The reader does not have voice inflection to carry meaning. Thus, a student's appreciation (knowledge) of word choice, details, imagery, and language all contribute to the understanding of tone. To misinterpret tone is to misinterpret meaning.

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6372910935	critical	inclined to find fault or judge with severity	0
6372910936	angry	feeling or showing anger and strong resentment	1
6372910937	infuriated	displaying anger in a passionate way	2
6372910938	irate	feeling or characterized by great anger.	3
6372910939	aggravated	to be or become irritated or inflamed	4
6372910940	indignant	feeling, characterized by, or expressing strong displeasure at something considered unjust, offensive, or base	5
6372910941	outraged	strongly offended, insulted, or affronted	6
6372910942	bitter	resentful or cynical	7
6372910943	ambiguous	open to or having several possible meanings or interpretations	8
6372910944	confused	mystified	9
6372910945	perplexed	bewildered; puzzled	10
6372910946	caustic	severely critical or sarcastic	11
6372910947	biting	capable of gripping and affecting or wounding	12
6372910948	irreverent	showing a lack of respect for things or people that should be taken seriously	13
6372910949	mocking	teasing or laughing at in a scornful way	14
6372910950	disdainful	showing contempt or a lack of respect	15
6372910951	contemptuous	scornful, showing contempt	16
6372910952	sardonic	grimly mocking or cynical	17
6372910953	sarcastic	marked by or given to using irony in order to mock or convey contempt	18
6372910954	tongue-in-cheek	used to refer to humor in which a statement, or an entire fictional work, is not meant to be taken seriously, but its sarcasm is subtle	19
6372910955	ironic	happening in the opposite way to what is expected, and typically causing wry amusement because of this	20
6372910956	cynical	believing that people are motivated by self-interest; distrustful of human sincerity or integrity	21
6372910957	skeptical	not easily convinced; having doubts or reservations	22
6372910958	wry	using or expressing dry, especially mocking, humor	23
6372910959	arrogant	having or revealing an exaggerated sense of one's own importance and abilities	24
6372910960	pretentious	attempting to impress by affecting greater important, talent, culture, etc., than is actually possessed	25
6372910961	condescending	to talk to someone in a haughty way, as though it is below one's dignity or level of importance	26
6372910962	patronizing	to treat someone with an apparent kindness that betrays a feeling of superiority	27
6372910963	authoritative	commanding and self-confident	28
6372910964	humourous	causing light-hearted laughter and amusement	29
6372910965	bantering	an exchange of light, playful, teasing remarks; good-natured raillery	30
6372910966	silly	weak-minded or lacking good sense; stupid or foolish. Also, absurd, irrational, ridiculous.	31
6372910967	mock-heroic	imitating or burlesquing that which is heroic, as in manner, character, or action	32
6372910968	amused	pleasurably entertained, occupied, or diverted	33
6372910969	joyful	glad; delighted	34
6372910970	ecstatic	subject to or in a state of ecstacy; rapturous	35
6372910971	elated	very happy; proud; jubilant	36
6372910972	effusive	lacking reserve; overflowing	37
6372910973	contented	satisfied with what one is or has	38
6372910974	disappointed	depressed or discouraged by the failure of one's hopes or expectations	39
6372910975	sad	affected by unhappiness or grief	40
6372910976	elegiac	expressing sorrow or lamentation	41
6372910977	melancholic	disposed to or affected with melancholy; gloomy	42
6372910978	depressing	sad; lower in spirits; dejected; dispirited	43
6372910979	mournful	feeling or expressing sorrow or grief; sorrowful; sad	44
6372910980	poignant	keenly distressing to the feelings	45
6372910981	somber	gloomy, depressing, or dismal	46
6372910982	bleak	without hope and encouragement	47
6372910983	whimsical	playfully quaint and fanciful, especially in an appealing and amusing way	48
6372910984	fanciful	overimaginative and unrealistic	49
6372910985	wistful	having or showing a feeling of vague or regretful longing	50
6372910986	flippant	not showing a serious or respectful attitude	51
6372910987	nostalgic	characterized by or showing feelings of nostalgia	52
6372910988	sentimental	dealing with feeling of tenderness, sadness, or nostalgia in an exaggerated or self-indulgent way	53
6372910989	reflective	relating to or characterized by deep thought; thoughtful	54
6372910990	regretful	feeling or showing regret	55
6372910991	remorseful	feeling deep regret or guilt for a wrong committed	56
6372910992	apologetic	regretfully acknowledging or excusing an offense or failure	57
6372910993	challenging	provocative; intriguing	58
6372910994	contentious	causing or likely to cause an argument; controversial	59
6372910995	surprising	causing wonder or astonishment	60
6372910996	shocking	extremely startling, distressing, or offensive	61
6372910997	inflammatory	tending to excite anger, disorder, or tumult	62
6372910998	horrific	having the power to horrify someone	63
6372910999	dramatic	highly effective; striking	64
6372911000	passionate	capable of, affected by, or expressing intense feeling	65
6372911001	impartial	having no direct involvement or interest and not favoring one person or side over another	66
6372911002	objective	based on facts rather than thoughts and opinions	67
6372911003	clinical	practical and unemotional	68
6372911004	factual	consisting of the truth or including only things that are actual	69
6372911005	detached	not attached to something and unaffected by emotional involvement	70
6372911006	disinterested	unbiased by personal interest or advantage; not influenced by selfish motives	71
6372911007	bored	tired and impatient	72
6372911008	apathetic	showing or feeling no interest, enthusiasm, or concern	73
6372911009	indifferent	having no particular interest or sympathy; unconcerned	74
6372911010	straightforward	uncomplicated and easy to do or understand	75
6372911011	candid	truthful and straightforward; frank	76
6372911012	pedantic	of or like a person who is excessively concerned with minor details and rules or displaying academic learning	77
6372911013	learned	having much knowledge; erudite	78
6372911014	scholarly	concerned with academic learning and research	79
6372911015	didactic	intended for instruction; inclined to teach and lecture others too much; teaching or intending to teach a moral lesson	80
6372911016	moralistic	characterized by or displaying a concern with morality	81
6372911017	inspirational	imparting inspiration (stimulation of the mind or emotions to a high level of feeling or activity	82
6372911018	respectful	full of, characterized by, or showing politeness or deference	83
6372911019	reverent	feeling or showing deep and solemn respect	84
6372911020	appreciative	being thankful or grateful for something	85
6372911021	sympthetic	feeling, showing, or expressing sympathy	86
6372911022	compassionate	feeling or showing concern for others	87
6372911023	interested	to be engaged or excited about something	88
6372911024	curious	eager to know and learn something	89
6372911025	urgent	needing attention very soon, especially before anything else, because important	90
6372911026	serious	needing or deserving your complete attention	91
6372911027	ominous	suggesting that something unpleasant is likely to happen	92
6372911028	apprehensive	feeling worried about something you are going to do	93
6372911029	foreboding	a feeling that something very bad is likely to happen soon	94
6372911030	threatening	expressing a threat of something unpleasant and violent	95
6372911031	accusing	reproachful; condemning	96
6372911032	admiring	to regard with wonder, pleasure, or approval	97
6372911033	admonitory	serving to warn, especially to correct	98
6372911034	affectionate	having or displaying warmth or affection	99
6372911035	ambivalent	having mixed or opposing feelings at the same time	100
6372911036	amiable	friendly, pleasant, likable	101
6372911037	artificial	not genuine; insincere	102
6372911038	belligerent	given to fighting, warlike; combative, aggressive	103
6372911039	benevolent	kindly; favorable towards; charitable	104
6372911040	bewildered	completely confused; puzzled	105
6372911041	brash	offensively bold	106
6372911042	callous	emotionally hardened; insensitive; unfeeling	107
6372911043	choleric	easily angered; bad-tempered	108
6372911044	cheery	bright and pleasant; sanguine	109
6372911045	condemnatory	expressing strong disapproval of; judgmental; critical	110
6372911046	consoling	affording comfort or solace	111
6372911047	contemplative	studying, thinking, reflecting on an issue	112
6372911048	droll	amusing in a wry, subtle way	113
6372911049	earnest	serious in intention or purpose; showing depth and sincerity of feelings	114
6372911050	despairing	hopeless, despondent, discouraged	115
6372911051	fervent	greatly emotional or zealous	116
6372911052	forthright	frank, direct, straightforward	117
6372911053	grateful	feeling or showing gratitude	118
6372911054	grave	causing fear or anxiety by discussion of matters deserving serious attention; weighty; momentous	119
6372911055	haughty	arrogant, excessively proud and vain	120
6372911056	matter-of-fact	unemotional; straightforward	121
6372911057	meditative	reflective, thoughtful	122
6372911058	obsequious	attentive in an ingratiating or servile manner; attempting to win favor from influential people from flattery	123
6372911059	pompous	overly self-important in speech and manner; excessively stately or ceremonious	124