tone deaf
Tone deaf (adjective) means Badly out of touch with how other people feel, so that what you say or do lands as insensitive or oblivious. Example: “The tone-deaf advert was pulled within two days.”
How to Use Tone deaf
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishSaying or doing something that shows you have no idea how it will make people feel.
The figurative sense now dominates in journalism and social media. Hyphenated before a noun (a tone-deaf response) and usually open after a verb (the response was tone deaf).
Most people who say they are tone deaf simply sing badly; clinical tone deafness, called amusia, is rare and means you cannot perceive pitch differences at all.
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Announcing bonuses during the redundancy consultation was _____.
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See all rhymes for tone deaf →Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between tone deaf and insensitive?
Insensitive means you failed to consider someone's feelings. Tone deaf is narrower and more damning: it implies you misjudged the whole public mood, so the failure looks obvious to everyone but you. It is usually aimed at institutions, campaigns and public figures rather than private remarks.
Am I really tone deaf if I can't sing?
Almost certainly not. True tone deafness, or congenital amusia, means being unable to tell two pitches apart, and affects roughly four per cent of people. Most bad singing is a matter of untrained vocal control, which improves with practice.
Is tone deaf hyphenated?
Hyphenate it when it comes before the noun — a tone-deaf statement — and leave it open after a linking verb — the statement was tone deaf. The same rule applies to the musical sense.