intonation

plural intonations

1. countableuncountablehuman sciencesThe rise and fall of the voice in speaking.
2. countableuncountableEmotive stress used to increase the power of delivery in speech.

   She well knew the power of intonation, and thought that, in the absence of the curled lip, the contemptuous twitch of the nose, and the supercilious toss of the head, her message might be acceptable for Louisa's sake,...

   1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVI, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 210

3. countableuncountableA sound made by, or resembling that made by, a musical instrument.

   In anxious expectation stood the crowd, When the shrill clarion's intonation loud Gave notice that the challenger drew nigh.

   1824, Sir James Bland Burges afterwards Lamb, The Dragon Knight: A Poem in Twelve Cantos, page 77

   3 more examples

   This additional cause of the intonation of thunder, together with the simile with which it is illustrated, is copied from our poet, both by Pliny, Nat. Hist. ii, 431, and Isidorus, Orig. xiii.

   1805, Titus Lucretius Carus, The nature of things: a didactic poem

   As when sulphureous fires, within the caves Of earth long pent, with intonation loud Burst through the riven rocks, and far as eye Can reach their furious devastation spread, So sudden, so resistless was the force Of this blasphemer's bold appeal to arms.

   1808, Richard Cumberland, The Exodiad: A Poem, page 375

   but Sir Hugh still exclaimed, —"Louder, old man, far louder!" till at last the minstrel, in obedience to his best and dearest friend, struck the harp with such violence, that not only did the strings break, but even the instrument itself burst asunder with a long melancholy intonation.

   1825, Friedrich Heinrich Karl Freiherr de La Motte-Fouqué, The Magic Ring; a Romance, from the German, Etc, page 287

4. countableuncountableSinging or playing in good tune or otherwise.

   Her intonation was false.

5. countableuncountableReciting 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.