Tone Words

Ambivalent

Exhibiting opposing attitudes or feelings simultaneously

Caustic

Harshly, bitterly critical or sarcastic

Didactic

Morally instructive

Disingenuous

Putting on a false show of sincerity or candidness; feigning naiveté

Dour

Gloomy, stern, or forbidding

Earnest

Sincere or serious

Elegiac

Mourning or commemorating something lost

Emphatic

Forceful and definite

Facetious/flippant

Humorous or playful, often to a disrespectful extent

Idyllic

Carefree

Laudatory

Expressing or conferring praise

Lyrical

Expressing deep personal emotion

Macabre

Gruesome or disturbing, esp. associated with death or violence

Maudlin

Effusively or insincerely emotional

Morose

Sullen and ill-tempered

Nonchalant

Cooley unconcerned; indifferent

Objective

Unbiased; impartial; without prejudice

Ominous

Portending or suggesting evil in the future

Pedantic

Detail-obsessed

Poignant

Deeply moving, emotionally touching

Resigned

Accepting something as inevitable

Sanctimonious

Showing false piety or holiness

Sardonic

Scornfully mocking

Scathing

Harshly and earnestly critical; denunciatory; “Caustic” without the sarcasm

Vitriolic

Caustic, bitter, or blisteringly critical

Wistful

Full of wishful yearning; pensively sad

Wry

Characterized by dry, ironic humor