Negative Tone Words

ashamed or embarrassed; also, disconcerted.

Abashed

to regard with extreme aversion; to loathe, or detest.

Abhorring

a tone of accusation; to accuse of a crime or offense.

Accusatory

tone of harshness or severity.

Acerbic

angry and bitter.

Acrimonious

acting in opposition; opposing, esp. mutually; hostile; unfriendly.

Antagonistic

fearful or uneasiness about something that might happen.

Apprehensive

making claims or pretensions to superior importance or rights; overbearingly assuming; insolently proud.

Arrogant

warlike; given to waging war.

Belligerent

characterized by intense antagonism or hostility.

Bitter

possessing boring nature; tedious.

Boorish

abrupt in manner; blunt; rough.

Brusque

making harsh, corrosive comments.

Caustic

severely critical; faultfinding.

Censorious

extremely irritable or easily angered; irascible.

Choleric

critical or harsh in a mean-spirited way.

Churlish

to express strong disapproval.

Condemnatory

showing or implying a sense of superiority; talking down to others.

Condescending

scornful, showing contempt or disdain.

Contemptuous

inclined to find fault or to judge with severity.

Critical

bitterly distrustful, contemptuous, or pessimistic; sneering.

Cynical

calling for intensive effort or attention; taxing.

Demanding

gloomy, morose; dejected; downcast.

Depressed

characterized by or expressing contempt; mocking.

Derisive

tending to lessen the merit or reputation of a person or thing; disparaging; depreciatory.

Derogatory

to be overcome by a sense of futility or defeat; defeatist.

Despairing

devilish; fiendish; outrageously wicked.

Diabolic

depressed or discouraged by the failure of one’s hopes or expectations.

Disappointed

expressing contempt or disdain.

Disdainful

to excite nausea or loathing in. To offend the taste or moral sense of.

Disgusted

showing a lack of respect; rude and discourteous.

Disrespectful

asserting opinions in a strict, arrogant manner; opinionated.

Dogmatic

overbearing; tyrannical.

Domineering

causing sadness or gloom.

Dreary

expressing sorrow or lamentation.

Elegiac

to make extremely angry; put into a rage; infuriate.

Enraged

deliberately vague or ambiguous.

Evasive

feeling fear, or dread.

Fearful

lacking in seriousness; frivolously insincere.

Flippant

a strong inner feeling or notion of a future misfortune, evil.

Foreboding

desperate or wild with excitement, passion, fear, pain, etc.; frenzied.

Frantic

to be filled with dread or fear.

Frightened

disappointed, or irritation.

Frustrated

full of fury, violent passion, or rage; extremely angry.

Furious

strangely diabolical or cruel; monstrous; delighting in the revolting.

Ghoulish

dark or dim; hopeless or despairing; pessimistic.

Gloomy

harsh, surly, forbidding, or morbid air.

Grim

luckless; unfortunate.

Hapless

desolate; unpleasantly rough.

Harsh

disdainfully proud; snobbish; supercilious.

Haughty

over the top dramatic.

Histrionic

meaningless; insincere or false.

Hollow

providing no hope; desperate.

Hopeless

showing or indicating great shock or horror.

Horrified

opposed in feeling, action, or character.

Hostile

not accepting delay, opposition, pain, etc., with calm or patience.

Impatient

insolent, rude; uncivil.

Impertinent

characterized by impertinence or effrontery; rude.

Impudent

not credulous; skeptical.

Incredulous

of or expressing strong displeasure at something considered unjust, offensive, insulting, or base.

Indignant

tending to arouse anger or hostility.

Inflammatory

subject to self-doubt, not self-confident or assured.

Insecure

boldly rude or disrespectful; contemptuously impertinent; insulting.

Insolent

easily provoked to anger; very irritable.

Irascible

showing lack of respect or veneration.

Irreverent

angered, provoked, or annoyed.

Irritated

mournful, dismal, or gloomy, esp. in an affected, exaggerated.

Lugubrious

desiring harm to others or to see others suffer.

Malicious

characterized by or causing or expressing sadness.

Melancholic

exaggerated or sentimental; over dramatic.

Melodramatic

feeling or expressing sorrow or grief; sorrowful; sad.

Mournful

highly excitable; unnaturally or acutely uneasy or apprehensive.

Nervous

stubborn; unyielding; stubbornly resistant to moral influence.

Obdurate

foreboding; threatening; inauspicious.

Ominous

angered and resentful; indignant.

Outraged

domineering; dictatorial; haughty, or rudely arrogant.

Overbearing

exhibiting or characterized irrational fear or distrust.

Paranoid

evoking pity, sympathetic sadness, sorrow, etc.; pitiful; pitiable.

Pathetic

displaying or indicative of a condescending manner or tone.

Patronizing

expecting the worst possible outcome.

Pessimistic

of little or no importance or consequence.

Petty

characterized by an ostentatious display of importance.

Pompous

characterized by assumption of importance or dignity.

Pretentious

tending to provoke, excite, or stimulate; inciting, stimulating, irritating, or vexing.

Provocative

resisting authority or control; not obedient or compliant; refractory.

Recalcitrant

causing or worthy of ridicule or derision; absurd; preposterous; laughable.

Ridiculous

characterized by scorn; mocking; cynical; sneering.

Sardonic

exposing ridicule or derision.

Satiric

expressing extreme contempt.

Scornful

belittling or undervaluing oneself; excessively modest.

Self-depreciating

devoted to or caring only for oneself; concerned primarily with one’s own interests, benefits, welfare.

Selfish

harsh; unnecessarily extreme; serious or stern in manner or appearance.

Severe

struck with fear, dread, or consternation.

Shocked

causing intense surprise, disgust, horror, etc.

Shocking

threatening or portending evil, harm, or trouble; ominous.

Sinister

gloomy, depressing, or dismal; extremely serious; grave.

Somber

firm, strict, hard, harsh, or severe.

Stern

making or having a harsh sound; grating.

Strident

disdainful or contemptuous.

Supercilious

openly distrustful.

Suspicious