TENOR

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does tenor mean? 

• TENOR (noun)
  The noun TENOR has 5 senses:

1. the adult male singing voice above baritone

2. the pitch range of the highest male voice

3. an adult male with a tenor voice

4. a settled or prevailing or habitual course of a person's life

5. the general meaning or substance of an utterance

  Familiarity information: TENOR used as a noun is common.

• TENOR (adjective)
  The adjective TENOR has 2 senses:

1. (of a musical instrument) intermediate between alto and baritone or bass

2. of or close in range to the highest natural adult male voice

  Familiarity information: TENOR used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TENOR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The adult male singing voice above baritone

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

tenor; tenor voice

Hypernyms ("tenor" is a kind of...):

singing voice (the musical quality of the voice while singing)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The pitch range of the highest male voice

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("tenor" is a kind of...):

pitch (the property of sound that varies with variation in the frequency of vibration)

Sense 3

Meaning:

An adult male with a tenor voice

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("tenor" is a kind of...):

singer; vocaliser; vocalist; vocalizer (a person who sings)

Instance hyponyms:

Caruso; Enrico Caruso (outstanding Italian operatic tenor (1873-1921))

Domingo; Placido Domingo (Spanish operatic tenor noted for performances in operas by Verdi and Puccini (born in 1941))

John McCormick; McCormick (United States operatic tenor (born in Ireland) (1884-1945))

Lauritz Lebrecht Hommel Melchior; Lauritz Melchior; Melchior (United States operatic tenor (born in Denmark) noted for his Wagnerian roles (1890-1973))

Luciano Pavarotti; Pavarotti (Italian tenor (born in 1935))

Sense 4

Meaning:

A settled or prevailing or habitual course of a person's life

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Context example:

nothing disturbed the even tenor of her ways

Hypernyms ("tenor" is a kind of...):

direction (a general course along which something has a tendency to develop)

Sense 5

Meaning:

The general meaning or substance of an utterance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

strain; tenor

Context example:

although I disagreed with him I could follow the tenor of his argument

Hypernyms ("tenor" is a kind of...):

meaning; substance (the idea that is intended)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "tenor"):

drift; purport (the pervading meaning or tenor)

• TENOR (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(of a musical instrument) intermediate between alto and baritone or bass

Context example:

a tenor sax

Similar:

high; high-pitched (used of sounds and voices; high in pitch or frequency)

Domain category:

music (an artistic form of auditory communication incorporating instrumental or vocal tones in a structured and continuous manner)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Of or close in range to the highest natural adult male voice

Context example:

tenor voice

Similar:

high; high-pitched (used of sounds and voices; high in pitch or frequency)

 Context examples 

She had also to anticipate how her visit would pass, the quiet tenor of their usual employments, the vexatious interruptions of Mr. Collins, and the gaieties of their intercourse with Rosings.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

I read it in your eye; it is not of that description which promises the maintenance of an even tenor in life.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Then some deep-water sailor, from the waist of the ship, lifted a rich tenor voice in the “Song of the Trade Wind”:

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

At six o'clock, the general having taken his coffee, the carriage again received them; and so gratifying had been the tenor of his conduct throughout the whole visit, so well assured was her mind on the subject of his expectations, that, could she have felt equally confident of the wishes of his son, Catherine would have quitted Woodston with little anxiety as to the How or the When she might return to it.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

This small but select mansion has been inhabited for some years by Mr. Eduardo Lucas, well-known in society circles both on account of his charming personality and because he has the well-deserved reputation of being one of the best amateur tenors in the country.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Utterson was amazed; the dark influence of Hyde had been withdrawn, the doctor had returned to his old tasks and amities; a week ago, the prospect had smiled with every promise of a cheerful and an honoured age; and now in a moment, friendship, and peace of mind, and the whole tenor of his life were wrecked.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

But there was no vacancy for a tenor in the venerable Pile for which this city is so justly eminent; and he has—in short, he has contracted a habit of singing in public-houses, rather than in sacred edifices.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

What had just passed; what Mrs. Reed had said concerning me to Mr. Brocklehurst; the whole tenor of their conversation, was recent, raw, and stinging in my mind; I had felt every word as acutely as I had heard it plainly, and a passion of resentment fomented now within me.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

A celebrated tenor had sung in Italian and a notorious contralto had sung in jazz and between the numbers people were doing stunts all over the garden, while happy vacuous bursts of laughter rose toward the summer sky.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)

His speaking voice, a gruff husky tenor, added to the impression of fractiousness he conveyed. There was a touch of paternal contempt in it, even toward people he liked—and there were men at New Haven who had hated his guts.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)