tone (down)

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for tone (down)
Verb
  • Leaf-peeping season has arrived in the Northeast and beyond, but weeks of drought have muted this year’s autumn colors, and sent leaves fluttering to the ground earlier than usual.
    Jessica Coacci, Fortune, 14 Oct. 2025
  • Roynon explains that color can lift good feng shui energy and mute any negative energy that may be lurking around.
    Maria Sabella, Better Homes & Gardens, 14 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • Her election may also blunt the rise of Sanseito, a right-wing populist party that surged in July on an anti-immigration platform.
    Hanako Montgomery, CNN Money, 11 Oct. 2025
  • Among the remaining guardrails to blunt overreach by the executive branch are state governors, according to the Democracy Futures Project.
    Michael Smolens, San Diego Union-Tribune, 10 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • The audio is muffled and at times difficult to discern.
    Lucien Bruggeman, ABC News, 14 Oct. 2025
  • The summer noise of saplings and shrubs and bug nests and grass and flowers had been muffled by the snow.
    Hazlitt, Hazlitt, 8 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • The emotions that drive decisions at the top of the free-agent market — sentimentality, desperation, urgency — are dulled by the organization’s adherence to process.
    Patrick Mooney, New York Times, 16 Oct. 2025
  • It’s made of 100 percent solid acacia wood, which is great for cooking thanks to its water-resistant and durable finish that won’t dull your knives.
    Caley Sturgill, Southern Living, 15 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • Now, many employers are looking to harness the power of AI—initially for mundane and repetitive tasks and eventually for more complicated jobs—to reduce the need to maintain the same level of human staffers on their payrolls.
    Jason Del Rey, Fortune, 15 Oct. 2025
  • And drivers can reduce the risk of their cars being hit.
    Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 15 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • Though the number of uninsured motorist was decreasing during the 2010s, the COVID-19 pandemic reversed the trend, with some Americans, who were driving less often, dropping their insurance, USA TODAY reported.
    Caroline Neal, Louisville Courier Journal, 17 Oct. 2025
  • In addition, the rebound numbers could decrease for Towns.
    Stan Son, New York Times, 17 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • Wet or damp bird seed can quickly mold, which can cause illnesses in birds.
    Joan Morris, Mercury News, 13 Oct. 2025
  • Use a cotton ball damped with rubbing alcohol and rub over the area.
    Tiffany Acosta, AZCentral.com, 11 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • Reading poetry out loud also requires us to pause for punctuation or line breaks, increasing our parasympathetic tone and dampening our hyperactive sympathetic nervous system.
    K.J.S. “Sunny” Anand, Time, 15 Oct. 2025
  • Today, Vance was back on The Charlie Kirk Show podcast to take another kick at dampening the outrage and calls for consequences for the Young Republicans’ pro-Nazis, pro-rape and racist statements.
    Dominic Patten, Deadline, 15 Oct. 2025
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Cite this Entry

“Tone (down).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tone%20%28down%29. Accessed 19 Oct. 2025.

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