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Tone and Mood

The tone and mood words listed below are also available as a Word document.

Tone and mood both deal with the emotions centered around a piece of writing. Though they seem similar and can in fact be related causally, they are in fact quite different.

Tone

Tone is the author’s attitude toward a subject. While journalistic writing theoretically has a tone of distance and objectivity, all other writing can have various tones.

If we were to read a description of a first date that included words and phrases like “dreaded”

and “my buddies forced me to go on the date”, we could assume that the individual didn’t really enjoy the date.

Some tone words include:

POSITIVE TONE WORDS NEUTRAL

(+, -, or neutral)

NEGATIVE TONE WORDS

admiring

adoring

affectionate

appreciative

approving

hilarious

hopeful

humorous

interested

introspective

commanding

direct

impartial

indirect

meditative

abhorring

acerbic

ambiguous

ambivalent

angry

hostile

impatient

incredulous

indifferent

indignant

bemused

benevolent

blithe

calm

casual

celebratory

cheerful

comforting

comic

compassionate

complimentary

conciliatory

confident

contented

delightful

earnest

ebullient

ecstatic

effusive

elated

empathetic

encouraging

euphoric

jovial

joyful

laudatory

light

lively

mirthful

modest

nostalgic

optimistic

passionate

placid

playful

poignant

proud

reassuring

reflective

relaxed

respectful

reverent

romantic

sanguine

scholarly

self-assured

objective

questioning

speculative

unambiguous

unconcerned

understated

annoyed

antagonistic

anxious

apathetic

apprehensive

belligerent

bewildered

biting

bitter

blunt

bossy

cold

conceited

condescending

confused

contemptuous

curt

cynical

demanding

depressed

derisive

derogatory

desolate

inflammatory

insecure

insolent

irreverent

lethargic

melancholy

mischievous

miserable

mocking

mournful

nervous

ominous

outraged

paranoid

pathetic

patronizing

pedantic

pensive

pessimistic

pretentious

psychotic

resigned

reticent

excited

exhilarated

expectant

facetious

fervent

flippant

forthright

friendly

funny

gleeful

gushy

happy

sentimental

serene

silly

sprightly

straightforward

sympathetic

tender

tranquil

whimsical

wistful

worshipful

zealous

despairing

desperate

detached

diabolic

disappointed

disliking

disrespectful

doubtful

embarrassed

enraged

evasive

fatalistic

fearful

forceful

foreboding

frantic

frightened

frustrated

furious

gloomy

grave

greedy

grim

sarcastic

sardonic

scornful

self-deprecating

selfish

serious

severe

sinister

skeptical

sly

solemn

somber

stern

stolid

stressful

strident

suspicious

tense

threatening

tragic

uncertain

uneasy

unfriendly

harsh

haughty

holier-than-thou

hopeless

unsympathetic

upset

violent

wry

Mood

Mood is the atmosphere of a piece of writing; it’s the emotions a selection arouses in a reader.

Some common mood descriptors are:

POSITIVE MOOD WORDS NEGATIVE MOOD WORDS amused

awed

bouncy

calm

jubilant

liberating

light-hearted

loving

aggravated

annoyed

anxious

apathetic

insidious

intimidated

irate

irritated

cheerful

chipper

confident

contemplative

content

determined

dignified

dreamy

ecstatic

empowered

energetic

enlightened

enthralled

excited

exhilarated

flirty

giddy

grateful

harmonious

hopeful

hyper

idyllic

joyous

mellow

nostalgic

optimistic

passionate

peaceful

playful

pleased

refreshed

rejuvenated

relaxed

relieved

satiated

satisfied

sentimental

silly

surprised

sympathetic

thankful

thoughtful

touched

trustful

vivacious

warm

apprehensive

barren

brooding

cold

confining

confused

cranky

crushed

cynical

depressed

desolate

disappointed

discontented

distressed

drained

dreary

embarrassed

enraged

envious

exhausted

fatalistic

foreboding

frustrated

jealous

lethargic

lonely

melancholic

merciless

moody

morose

nauseated

nervous

nightmarish

numb

overwhelmed

painful

pensive

pessimistic

predatory

rejected

restless

scared

serious

sick

somber

stressed

welcoming futile

gloomy

grumpy

haunting

heartbroken

hopeless

hostile

indifferent

infuriated

suspenseful

tense

terrifying

threatening

uncomfortable

vengeful

violent

worried

One good way to see mood (and, to a degree, tone) in action is through genre-crossing movie trailers. In film editing classes throughout the States, a common assignment is to take an existing film (say, a comedy) and create a film preview that presents the film as a different genre (for

example, a horror film). This is accomplished through editing and splicing scenes, adding new, anxiety-producing music and sound effects, and adding a new voice-over introduction.

Some of the best examples of this are below.

Mary Poppins as a horror film:

Dumb and Dumber was turned into a horror film, Lurk and Lurker: The Shining was transformed from horror film into a feel-good romantic comedy:

This page was last modified on October 2, 2014.

74 Responses to “Tone and Mood”

1. lado danny

August 4, 2011 at 4:36 pm

thank you so much for listing the adjectives of tone and mood,the difference is easier to understand and is improving my grades I feel enlightened,empowered, and refreshed,it’s

a job well done.BRAVO,BRAVO,……………LITERATURE FOREVER

Reply

o apple fritter

October 1, 2014 at 10:36 pm

i agree

Reply

2. Karen B

March 25, 2012 at 12:37 pm

I love the movie trailers! Thanks so much for sharing.

Reply

3. Tara Davidson

May 17, 2012 at 12:29 pm

umm, yes; all of this helped a little with the adjectives with the tone & mood, but its just blank..its not entertaining. try to make it more visual appealing! thanks(:

Reply

o Mr. Scott

May 17, 2012 at 3:40 pm

You create something; if I like it, I’ll post it.

Reply

4. storie

June 6, 2012 at 1:13 pm

u need to be able to click on the word for definition.

Reply

o Mr. Scott

June 6, 2012 at 2:35 pm

Perhaps. But if that were the case, whence would you gain the satisfaction of the

search in your quest for knowledge? (In other words, wouldn’t that make it too easy?)

Reply

jeidrien

October 24, 2013 at 1:52 pm

hihihihihihihihihih

Reply

5. J West

June 19, 2012 at 12:04 pm

Me likey!!

Reply

6. Friday September 14, 2012 | Mrs. Ecker's ENG1D

September 18, 2012 at 3:39 pm

[...] to this effect. Check out this link for some examples of changing the mood/tone of a movie: http://ourenglishclass.net/class-notes/writing/the-writing-process/craft/tone-and-

mood/ read the information and then scroll to the bottom to see the links to the video clips [...]

Reply

7. KIERRA LOWE

September 21, 2012 at 11:25 am

thanks for the help my seventh grade year is going to rock now that i finally know what mood and tone

Reply

o Mr. Scott

September 21, 2012 at 11:26 am

Glad I could be of help.

Reply

nick terwint

October 23, 2014 at 8:01 am

[Entire, profanity- laced message redacted.]

Reply

nick terwint

October 23, 2014 at 8:04 am

[Second message, also profanity- lanced, entirely redacted.]

Reply

Mr. Scott

October 26, 2014 at 2:09 pm

Dear Nick,

I’m fairly certain that’s not your name: surely you’re not so

naive as to put your real name here. Still, I’ll call you Nick since you gave that name.

The funny thing about the internet is that it is not

anonymous, even if you put a false name down. When you leave a comment, for example, most web sites record the IP address of the visitor. Your IP address when you sent the

message was 64.246.196.136, which according to http://whois.arin.net/http://whois.arin.net/ is registered to

your school (http://whois.arin.net/rest/ip/64.246.196.136), the Milton Hershey school. As such, I’ve sent word to your school about your actions.

Expect your internet privileges to be curtailed shortly.

Have a nice day.

8. Melissa

September 26, 2012 at 7:37 pm

Thank you needed to understand for my english essay and my mom didnt have a clue. Thank you!

Reply

o Mr. Scott

September 26, 2012 at 9:49 pm

Not a problem.

Reply

9. Harry

October 26, 2012 at 11:20 am

I teach Sophomore english at Milford High School in Cincinnati,OH and I just wanted to

thank your for this list, I’ll be passing it out to my class on Monday as we start our poetry unit.

Thanks!

-Harry Smith

Reply

o Mr. Scott

October 26, 2012 at 3:37 pm

I’m glad it was helpful.

Reply

10. sandrina vlahou

February 26, 2013 at 3:51 pm

Thank you very much for your post. Great list of adjectives and a good teacher can get their students to act out the different emotions created by specific adjectives, make it into

a contest even teenagers would love that. I also liked the film snippets, Mary Poppins was by far the best…a children’s story made creepy!!! wow. Thank you once again.

Reply

11. Kate Mackezie Reed

April 10, 2013 at 3:01 pm

It helped SOOOO much! Thank you! I had to make a poster on mood & teach it to the

class (weird pick, right?) and the examples heped a TON and your descriptions were PERECT for a class of oblivious, lazy and dumb 6th graders! Thanks, again!!!!

Reply

o JJ

July 25, 2014 at 2:19 pm

You need to stop teaching if you think your students are “oblivious, lazy and dumb 6th graders!”

Reply

Mr. Scott

July 31, 2014 at 2:05 pm

If you read that comment closely, you’ll realize that it was another student

writing that.

Reply

Lisa Hamel

August 20, 2014 at 8:14 pm

[...] I just downloaded the Word version of the tone and mood lists,

and I love it. Have you considered adding your url to the footer of the document? You should definitely get credit for your hard work!

Reply

12. Julie Ward

April 25, 2013 at 3:43 pm

Great film clips! Thanks.

However, I’d be inclined to delete posts that suggests any student(s) to be ‘oblivious, lazy and dumb’ and, perhaps, advise that teacher to reassess her opinions, and seek up to date training on student-centered pedagogic techniques and effective

communication/behavioral approaches.

Reply

o Mr. Scott

April 25, 2013 at 3:56 pm

I think the previous comment came from a student in said class. The fact that she

said “I had to make a poster on mood & teach it to the class” makes me think it’s something that doesn’t happen often, which makes it unlike this is a teacher. Additionally, the parenthetical remark, “weird pick, right?” implies that students

had to choose topics from a list, which the teacher presumably provided. If it were a teacher, I probably wouldn’t have approved it. As it is, it sounds like one sixth

grader referring to her peers (perhaps with tongue in cheek) as “oblivious, lazy and dumb.” I would, however, suggest that this student look into the use of the Oxford comma!

Reply

13. bob

May 9, 2013 at 8:02 pm

thanks for the website

Reply

14. Mellisa

May 19, 2013 at 6:14 pm

GOOD

Reply

15. Lauren

June 9, 2013 at 9:16 am

Thank you so much! I printed out the word document. I’m in my final year of high school and I can never find the right word to describe the tone and mood of a text in exams. This was super helpful and beautifully laid out.

Reply

16. Reiko

June 12, 2013 at 9:07 pm

Hello,

I’m a junior and I was having such a hard time to describe what mood or tone it is for the chapters in the books our teacher was making us read! this website is helping me

tremendously in getting my summer homework done for AP Eng 11. Thank you!

Reply

17. mutuma wilfred

August 5, 2013 at 8:54 am

kudoz to this post… it has helped me

Reply

18. Trina Dahl

August 6, 2013 at 9:42 am

Centered Around?? You cannot “Center Around” anything — only center ON.

Reply

19. Mr. Scott

August 6, 2013 at 5:28 pm

Thank you for the comment. Still, I have to disagree, for reasons such as these: http://motivatedgrammar.wordpress.com/tag/center-around/

Reply

o kyle kahl

February 24, 2014 at 2:35 pm

this gave me a lot of ideas for responses

Reply

20. moshej

October 18, 2013 at 11:10 am

Much gratitude to you, sir. I have linked to your brilliant resource. You can find me at moshej.edublogs.org.

Reply

21. Grade 11, Week 7 - mrisakson.com

October 24, 2013 at 12:31 pm

[…] After discussing our first story, I will be walking you through the difference between

mood and tone. We will then apply this to our next short story, The Masque of the Red Death. Again, I will be […]

Reply

22. Grade 11, Week 8 - mrisakson.com

October 27, 2013 at 11:13 pm

[…] his particularly dark and morbid stories. If you need a refresher on either mood or

tone, check out this site. Finally, we will be watching a short video of the story and comparing its mood and tone to […]

Reply

23. Demari Coppedge

December 1, 2013 at 6:25 pm

Oh I get it wow the enternet make everything easy

Reply

24. meazy ann resurreccion

January 8, 2014 at 5:23 am

thank you

Reply

o Mr. Scott

January 8, 2014 at 7:55 am

You’re welcome. I’m glad you found it useful.

Reply

25. Angelina

February 27, 2014 at 5:47 pm

You should really try to pu what MOOD means.I already know what TONE is but i want

to know what MOOD is! This was WORTHLESS!!!!!!

Reply

o Mr. Scott

February 28, 2014 at 10:59 pm

Thank you for the constructive criticism. I wish you luck finding a web site more

suited to your needs.

Reply

LamadaPranav

April 12, 2014 at 3:21 am

There you go Mr. Scott. I think you should explain the difference more because other than reading and looking up the meaning of words I didn’t

know, I gained nothing out of it. http://www.fallriverschools.org/Tone%20and%20Mood%20words%20(unedited).pdf

Reply

Mr. Scott

April 12, 2014 at 8:45 pm

These are merely meant to be notes from class, not actual first-exposure instructional material.

Reply

26. carolinalotaifgiglio

March 18, 2014 at 7:46 pm

thanks for making me understand the difference of tone and mood, really helped me a lot in order to get a good grade in my english assignment for “Master Harold” … and they

boys

Reply

27. jade sautter

March 27, 2014 at 5:27 pm

Im doing a reading papper in my class in sixth grae and i think that your definitions may have some things that you are missing ion this sight.

Reply

o Mr. Scott

March 28, 2014 at 1:45 pm

I would appreciate any suggestions you could offer.

Reply

28. mmhmmmhm

March 28, 2014 at 6:28 pm

spectacular this is going to help me a lot on the test

Reply

o Mr. Scott

April 2, 2014 at 12:52 pm

Glad to help.

Reply

29. Legend

April 20, 2014 at 9:22 am

Brilliant……. very useful for IB English Commentaries

Reply

o Mr. Scott

April 21, 2014 at 8:09 am

Glad you find it useful.

Reply

meowkitty

June 17, 2014 at 8:21 pm

meow its noice

Reply

jon

July 31, 2014 at 1:28 pm

you sir need to caaaammm dddoooowwwnn

Reply

30. Gone Home Lesson 3: Sound Bites, Word Clouds and Vision Quests

May 5, 2014 at 8:59 pm

[…] for mood and tone, and then we discussed the distinctions between them. I then directed them to a website with extensive lists of tone words and mood words, and tasked them to choose 10 words from each […]

Reply

31. ASDFFDSA

May 18, 2014 at 1:23 pm

This sucks. It doesn’t even tell you what the stupid definitions are.

Reply

o Mr. Scott

May 18, 2014 at 2:05 pm

Thank you for the constructive criticism. I trust you noticed that this is a site for my students, using my lessons, with my general unit plans and goals in mind, and

that it is not a general help site. To that end, I wish you luck in finding a site that meets your needs. This site I found seems like a good place to start for definitions.

Reply

32. Stephanie Thomas

May 20, 2014 at 11:12 pm

Thank you for your list. It helped me tremendously with my assessment rubric. Also, you

have given me ideas to add to my own class website.

Reply

o Mr. Scott

May 21, 2014 at 8:11 am

I’m glad you found it useful. As for the web site, it’s a work in progress, about seven years in the making.

Reply

33. Safa

June 17, 2014 at 12:48 pm

You must be the greatest teacher ever for making a website just for your students to improve. This helped me a lot during my finals thank you so much. ~some random 7th grader

Reply

o Mr. Scott

June 17, 2014 at 3:52 pm

Thank you. It has taken almost ten years to create all of this.

Reply

34. Hannie

June 23, 2014 at 2:34 pm

This was very helpful, thanks a lot

Reply

35. Week 6: Developing Mood | The Deep Method

August 18, 2014 at 12:19 pm

[…] or joyful! Make sure kids know that they develop mood by making their reader feel

something. Don’t confuse this with tone, another literary device which refers to the author’s attitude toward the […]

Reply

36. Thursday, August 21, 2014 | outragerous

August 21, 2014 at 4:56 pm

[…] Here are links to help you with the terms: http://www.litencyc.com/glossaryMZ.php and http://ourenglishclass.net/class-notes/writing/the-writing-process/craft/tone-and-mood/ MLA:

http://rwc.hunter.cuny.edu/reading-writing/on- line/mla-sample-research-paper.gif […]

Reply

37. Anwar Adam

September 3, 2014 at 9:18 pm

Hi, I need a tone word for a situation where the author is fine with both decisions a character takes.

Reply

o Mr. Scott

September 3, 2014 at 10:26 pm

Indifferent? Ambivalent?

Reply

Anwar Adam

September 4, 2014 at 7:00 pm

I think indifferent works, thank you

Reply

38. Today’s Writers’ Tip: Another Common Fiction Mistake | Marsha Hubler: Author of THE LOVES OF SNYDER COUNTY SERIES and THE KEYSTONE STABLES BOOKS

September 22, 2014 at 6:42 pm

[…] http://ourenglishclass.net/class-notes/writing/the-writing-process/craft/tone-and-mood/ […]

Reply

39. lakayila jaide

September 30, 2014 at 7:22 pm

uhhh it helped a little with understanding tone and mood, but not really how to find it and that is what I am struggling with the most.

Reply

o Mr. Scott

October 1, 2014 at 2:50 pm

Sorry I couldn’t be of more service. Perhaps if you were in my class and saw how

I use it there, it would help. But alas…

Reply

40. Dominick

September 30, 2014 at 8:24 pm

i need a negative word were the author is a little down sided with many different stories

Reply

o Mr. Scott

October 1, 2014 at 2:49 pm

Not sure I understand.

Reply

41. Judd Dunagan

October 24, 2014 at 7:17 am

Mr. Scott, great article!. I struggle with dyslexia and I am in digital marketing. I recently open a company where I am finding myself having to write a lot which I actually like.

Some times it comes out a little backwards but I can always edit the copy. This post has a great way to explain how to write constantly in the same voice for a client.

Reply

o Mr. Scott

October 26, 2014 at 2:16 pm

Thanks Judd. I took the liberty of removing the link to your web site — it just

sounded a little spammy. Still, I wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt, so I left the actual message up.

Reply

42. Zofia M.Grajski

October 29, 2014 at 10:02 am

Thank you so much for helping me and my young student I tutor in answering the

question about the mood in stories or books she is assigned to read. It had been surprisingly difficult to describe those moods; we had to dug in the thesaurus to come up with some answer.

Many thanks again.

Reply

Please let me know how I can help you.

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Recent Comments

Mr. Scott on Specific Nouns

Zofia M.Grajski on The Teacher Zofia M.Grajski on Tone and Mood Anna C. on Specific Nouns

Mr. Scott on Sensory Language

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The Tone List

abashed abrasive abusive accepting

acerbic acquiescent admiring adoring

affectionate aghast allusive amused

angry anxious apologetic apprehensive

approving arch ardent argumentative

audacious awe-struck bantering begrudging

bemused benevolent biting bitter

blithe boastful bored bristling

brusque calm candid caressing

caustic cavalier childish child-like

clipped cold complimentary condescending

contemptuous conversational coy critical

curt cutting cynical defamatory denunciatory

despairing detached devil-may-care didactic

disbelieving discouraged disdainful disparaging

disrespectful distracted doubtful dramatic

dreamy dry ecstatic entranced

enthusiastic eulogistic exhilarated exultant

facetious fanciful fearful flippant

fond forceful frightened ghoulish

giddy gleeful glum grim

guarded guilty happy harsh

haughty heavy-hearted hollow horrified

humourous hypercritical indifferent indulgent

ironic irreverent joking joyful

languorous languid laudatory light-hearted

lingering loving marveling melancholy

mistrustful mocking mysterious naïve

neutral nostalgic objective peaceful

pessimistic pitiful playful poignant

pragmatic proud provocative questioning

rallying reflective reminiscing reproachful

resigned respectful restrained reticent

reverent rueful sad sarcastic

sardonic satirical satisfied seductive

self-critical self-dramatizing self-justfying self-mocking

self-pitying self-satisfied sentimental serious

severe sharp shocked silly

sly smug solemn somber

stentorian stern straightforward strident

stunned subdued swaggering sweet

sympathetic taunting tense thoughtful

threatening tired touchy trenchant

uncertain understated upset urgent

vexed vibrant wary whimsical

withering wry zealous