INTONATION • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Intonation

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/ɪntənˈeɪʃən/ Listen

noun

Intonation n. A thundering; thunder. (Obs.)

Intonation n.

(Mus.)

(a)

The act of sounding the tones of the musical scale.

(b)

Singing or playing in good tune or otherwise; as, her intonation was false.

(c)

Reciting 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. See Intone, v. t.

The manner of speaking, especially the placement of emphasis, the cadence, and the rise and fall of the pitch of the voice while speaking.

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Etymology of 'Intonation'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Intonation" Quotes from Famous Books

... an earnest intonation of voice in these words, and such a simple innocence of manner, that Wilkins couldn't repress ...

— The Brother Clerks - A Tale of New-Orleans • Xariffa

... in his Magio Medica treats of Fascination as twofold: De Fascinatione per Visunt et Vocem. I have found among Italian witches as with Red Indian wizards, every magical operation depended on an incantation, and every incantation on the feeling, intonation, or manner in which it is sung. Thus near Rome any peasant overhearing a scongiurasione would recognize it from ...

— The Mystic Will • Charles Godfrey Leland

... expression of my countenance betrayed me. Several held me tight while the others spoke. Though I did not understand a word of their language, I could not fail to comprehend the tenor of their speeches. Their action, the intonation of their voices, their angry glances, showed it. "Our friends came here, and this man killed them. We came to look for them, and by the same arts with which he destroyed them he had endeavoured to destroy us. There are the proofs of his guilt. How else did he become possessed ...

— Dick Onslow - Among the Redskins • W.H.G. Kingston

... by inflection the reciprocal dependence of words and sentences. Degrees of motion corresponding with vocal intonation are only used rhetorically or for degrees of comparison. The relations of ideas and objects are therefore expressed by placement, and their connection is established when necessary by the abstraction of ideas. The sign talker is an artist, grouping persons and things so as to show the relations ...

— Sign Language Among North American Indians Compared With That Among Other Peoples And Deaf-Mutes • Garrick Mallery

... Accent, intonation—both were perfect, of the true Island speech, that delicate incommunicable sing-song. The Commandant's eyes grew rounder yet with amazement, and Vashti—afraid, perhaps, of meeting them—flung a glance of mock terror behind her, as though she had caught the footfall ...

— Major Vigoureux • A. T. Quiller-Couch

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