toneless
adjective
- having no distinctive tone/stress/quality (of a sound)
Wiktionary
adj
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.
- Lacking tone or expression.
“And sure enough she had settled down at once, so that in less than two months it seemed to Stephen that Miss Puddleton must always have been at Morton, must always have been sitting at the large walnut table, must always have been saying in that dry, toneless voice with the Oxford accent: ‘You’ve forgotten something, Stephen,’ […]”
“The Cumshewa totem poles were dark and colourless, the wood toneless from pouring rain.”
- Lacking vitality; listless; lifeless.
- Lacking tone or pitch, have the neutral tone.