Diction and Tone Words for English 10 Honors

Cheerfully indifferent

Lacking proper respect or seriousness

Expressing feelings of gratitude, pleasure, or approval in an unrestrained, heartfelt manner.

Showing a critical or disrespectful attitude

High-sounding but with little meaning; inflated

Having or showing great knowledge or learning

Using expressions that are natural to a native speaker (that don't make literal sense)

Optimistic or positive, especially in an apparently bad or difficult situation

Intended to arouse angry or violent feelings

Attempting to impress by affecting greater importance than is actually possessed.

Dealing with feelings of tenderness or sadness, typically in a self-indulgent way.

Intended to placate or pacify

Treating serious issues with deliberately inappropriate humor

Showing a lack of respect for people or things that are generally taken seriously

Understood by only a small number of people with a specialized knowledge or interest.

Overly concerned with minute details or formalisms

Expressing hatred or disapproval; scornful

Having a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past

Using or expressing dry, especially mocking, humor

Abrupt, blunt, rough

Excessively and unpleasantly forceful

Lacking flavor, dull, flat, uninteresting

Having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas

Using more words than are needed

Used in ordinary or familiar conversation; not formal or literary

Rude, crude, or vulgar

Evoking a keen sense of sadness or regret

Relating to or affecting sight/touch/taste/sound/smell

Sarcastic in a scathing and bitter way

Sharply critical, ironic, or sarcastic