Standard Lemma guide

toneless

adj · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Lacking tone or expression.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Lacking vitality; listless; lifeless.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adj

Meaning 3

Lacking tone or pitch, have the neutral tone.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

adjective

Meaning 4

lacking in tone or expression

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • his toneless mechanical voice

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: toned

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English tone Proto-Indo-European *lewh1- Proto-Indo-European *lewHs-der. Proto-Germanic *leusaną Proto-Germanic *lausaz Proto-Germanic *-lausaz Proto-West Germanic *-laus Old English -lēas Middle English -les English -less English toneless From tone + -less.

Across languages

Translations

11 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: глух (gluh) — lacking tone or expression
  • Bulgarian: неизразителен (neizrazitelen) — lacking tone or expression
  • Chinese Mandarin: 單調的 /单调的 (dāndiào de) — lacking tone or expression
  • Finnish: soinniton — lacking tone or expression
  • Finnish: sävytön — lacking tone or expression
  • Russian: невырази́тельный (nevyrazítelʹnyj) — lacking tone or expression
  • Finnish: eloton — lacking vitality; listless
  • Russian: вя́лый (vjályj) — lacking vitality; listless
  • Bulgarian: беззвучен (bezzvučen) — having no tone (in tonal languages)
  • Chinese Mandarin: 缺乏聲調的 /缺乏声调的 (quēfá shēngdiào de) — having no tone (in tonal languages)
  • Finnish: tooniton — having no tone (in tonal languages)