tonically

T1O1N1I1C3A1L1L1Y4

adverb

in a tonic manner

Scrabble 14

Meanings

adverbtonically (not comparable)
  1. not comparablein a tonic manner

    It is too proud, too austere, too true, and too tonically cruel to appeal to mandarins.

    1917, Arnold Bennett, Books and Persons
    4 more examples

    Slow-developing changes in the population response of the tonically active neurons of the striatum, putative interneurons, have also been found [ T. Aosaki, et al., J. Neurosci.

    1999 November 26, Mandar S. Jog et al., “Building Neural Representations of Habits”, in Science, volume 286, number 5445, →DOI, pages 1745–1749

    Force must not be used, but steady firm pressure against the tonically contracted cricopharyngeus is made, while at the same time the distal end of the esophagoscope is lifted by the left thumb.

    1922, Chevalier Jackson, Bronchoscopy and Esophagoscopy

    The Bookstore, fondest of my father's resorts, though I remember no more of its public identity than that it further enriched the brave depth of Broadway, was overwhelmingly and irresistibly English, as not less tonically English was our principal host there, with whom we had moreover, my father and I, thanks to his office, such personal and genial relations that I recall seeing him grace our board at home, in company with his wife, whose vocal strain and complexion and coiffure and flounces I found none the less informing, none the less "racial," for my not being then versed in the language of analysis.

    1913, Henry James, A Small Boy and Others

    The preceding, for instance, proceeds regularly in the key of G in all respects but the very ending of each strain, which takes place in the key of C. Or to speak tonically, the melody and accompaniment after being written nearly all the way in the key of Do, suddenly diverge to the key of Fa, and there close.

    1891, W. S. B. Mathews, A Popular History of the Art of Music

Origin

Rhymes & wordplay

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Cite this entry
APA

tonically. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tonically

MLA

“tonically.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tonically. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tonically,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tonically.

Source: tonically on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.