This document provides information about tone and mood in writing. It defines tone as the author's attitude toward a subject, while mood is the emotions aroused in the reader. Numerous positive and negative words are listed that describe tones such as admiring, indifferent, and mocking. Mood descriptors including amused, apprehensive, and gloomy are also given. Examples are provided of movie trailers that change a film's genre and therefore its tone and mood, such as presenting Mary Poppins as a horror film rather than a comedy. Comments from readers show the document was helpful for understanding tone and mood for school assignments.

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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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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-

9. 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.]

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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!

13. 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. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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(un
edited).pdf
Reply
 Mr. Scott

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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…

24. 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.

25. 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.
Agenda
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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
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The Tone List

26. 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

27. 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