Meanings
present singular third person intones · participle present intoning · participle past intoned · past intoned
- transitiveTo utter with a musical or prolonged note or tone; to speak or recite with singing voice; to chant.
to intone the church service
1 more example
But when the moon rose and the breeze awakened, and the sedges stirred, and the cat’s-paws raced across the moonlit ponds, and the far surf off Wonder Head intoned the hymn of the four winds, the trinity, earth and sky and water, became one thunderous symphony—a harmony of sound and colour silvered to a monochrome by the moon.
1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLCSynonyms: sing
- intransitiveTo utter a tone; utter a protracted sound.
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo utter with a musical or prolonged note or tone; to speak or recite with singing voice; to chant.
More synonyms by meaning
verbrecite with musical intonation; recite as a chant or a psalm
verbspeak carefully, as with rising and falling pitch or in a particular tone
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Medieval Latinintonō
- Old Frenchentoner
- Middle Englishentune
- Englishintone
From Middle English entune, entone, from Old French entoner, from Medieval Latin intonō, from in- (inchoative prefix) + tonus (“pitch, tone”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix); doublet of intonate. Cognate with French entonner, Italian intonare.
More words from Middle English, Old French, Medieval Latin
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with intone
Anagrams
Cite this entry
intone. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/intone
“intone.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/intone. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “intone,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/intone.
Source: intone on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.