tone police

verb

To complain about the tone of one or more participants in a debate or discussion, especially one perceived as heated, disrespectful, etc.

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Meanings

verbtone police (third-person singular simple present tone polices, present participle tone policing, simple past and past participle tone policed)

present singular third person tone polices · participle present tone policing · participle past tone policed · past tone policed

  1. derogatoryslangTo complain about the tone of one or more participants in a debate or discussion, especially one perceived as heated, disrespectful, etc.

    Many white women will tone police, dominate conversation, and then when challenged follow the following playbook[…]

    2017, Fobazi M. Ettarh, “Equality is not Pie; Libraries and the Insidiousness of Subtle Racism”, in fobaziettarh.com
    1 more example

    When his commenters try to tone-police him, [Hasan] Piker will often single one of them out and say, “Congratulations, chatter, you’ve won Woke of the Day.” It’s not a compliment.

    2025 March 17, Andrew Marantz, “The Battle for the Bros”, in The New Yorker, →ISSN

Translations

Japanese トーン・ポリース
  • トーン・ポリースto complain about the tone of discussion participants
Cite this entry
APA

tone police. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tone%20police

MLA

“tone police.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tone%20police. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tone police,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tone%20police.

Source: tone police on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.