tone deafness
- noun
- /toʊn ˈdɛf.nəs/
:
insensibilidad emocional
- After the meeting she was criticized for tone deafness when praising budget cuts without empathy.
Examples
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The politician's tone deafness about rising costs cost him voter support in the debate.
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His tone deafness made it hard for him to understand jokes.
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Her tone deafness to colleagues' concerns damaged team morale during the crisis.
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She often shows tone deafness in social situations.
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Her tone deafness to colleagues' concerns about their workload led to misunderstandings and frustration during the project.
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The coach's tone deafness to players' feedback about the training schedule resulted in decreased motivation among the team.
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Due to his tone deafness, he often misinterpreted the emotional reactions of others in conversations.
How Sensitive
- Specialized
4
4.1
154
3.2
100
3.9
16
5.5
Surface Forms
Morphology
tone + deafness
The meaning is directly derivable from combining 'tone' (mood or attitude in speech) with 'deafness' (inability to hear) to indicate an inability to perceive emotional or social tone; this compositional logic is straightforward and predictable. The construction mirrors common cross-linguistic patterns (and parallels the literal musical sense of being 'tone-deaf'), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can infer the meaning.
Etymology
Tone deafness in speech or behaviour uses the same idea: imagine someone who is deaf to the emotional tone in a room, so they miss feelings and say things that sound 'insensitive', which is why the phrase means 'not noticing the mood'.