Tone words

1. Ambivalent – having mixed feelings

2. Apathetic – indifferent, uncaring

3. Austere – strict, stern, simple

4. Bantering – teasing, playful

5. Brusque – abrupt, curt, terse

6. Candid – very honest and open

7. Carping – whining, nagging, critical

8. Censorious – condemning, severely critical, fault-finding

9. Complacent – satisfied with oneself therefore uncaring, smug, unbothered

10. Conciliatory – always aiming to please or pacify

11. Contemptuous – full of deep hatred

12. Contentious – easily prone to fighting, quarrelsome

13. Cynical – extremely distrustful, bitterly pessimistic

14. Dejected – disheartened, depressed

15. Derisive – showing contempt through ridicule and scorn

16. Desolate – lonely, dreary, dismal

17. Didactic – intending to be instructive, tending to lecture or teach too much

18. Dogmatic – opinionated, preachy, firm and unyielding in one’s beliefs

19. Ebullient – overflowing with enthusiasm and joy

20. Effusive – gushing praise

21. Elegiac – expressing sorrow or lament

22. Fervent – ardent, showing intensity of feeling

23. Flippant – disrespectful, shallow, lacking in seriousness

24. Haughty – proud, arrogant, snobbish

25. Incisive – cuttingly direct, to the point

26. Incredulous - unbelieving

27. Indignant – angry because of something one feels is unjust

28. Intemperate – uncontrolled, unrestrained, going to extremes

29. Irony - sarcastic use of words to imply the opposite of what they normally mean, an outcome of events contrary to what was expected.

30. Jocund – joyful, cheerful

31. Laudatory – giving praise

32. Lethargic – drowsy, sluggish, apathetic

33. Lugubrious – mournful

34. Pedantic - making a show of knowledge, overly concerned with minute details

35. Pensive – wistfully or dreamily thoughtful

36. Petulant – insolent, rude, like a spoiled child

37. Pithy – concise, crisp, getting right to the point

38. Puckish – mischievous, impish, rascally

39. Reticent – reserved, reluctant to speak, restrained

40. Rhapsodic – extravagantly emotional, euphoric, elated

41. Sanguine – confident, optimistic

42. Sardonic – mocking, derisive, sarcastic

43. Smug – highly self-satisfied

44. Somber – extremely serious, grave, gloomy, solemn

45. Strident – harsh, insistent

46. Timorous – timid, fearful

47. Vitriolic – caustic, scathing, savagely cruel

48. Whimsical – spontaneously fanciful, playful, impulsive

49. Wry – cleverly ironic, grimly humorous

50. Zealous – fervent, filled with passion