to set the tone
32
4.1
- phrasal verb
:
marcar el tono
- The faculty and administration set the tone for this type of success.
- set the tone for a book
- set the tone for the rest
- set the tone for the class
And and I think it did set the tone for decades.
- And and I think it did set the tone for decades.
- Your first week will set the tone for that relationship.
- So thank you for setting the tone and blazing the path.
- It has to set the tone for the entire rest of the album.
- It's kind of my job to set the tone and to be the example.
- It could sort of set the tone and it's, it's an enviable task, right?
- So yeah, yeah, the director set the tone.
- So you can't dominate the bathroom, but you can set the tone for how it how it works.
- And it it enters into the storytelling mode in which Harvard sets the tone for everyone.
- The next four years of your life is where you're going to set the tone for your entire life, OK?
- I mean the combination of Calrissian and the Cape set the tone for me.
- There are times when you kind of have to set the tone as a leader, but like people won't.
Examples
-
Principals set the tone for the building, work to develop and carry out school goals.
Academic text (2015) -
This performance sets the tone for our senior year.
-
Your first week will set the tone for that relationship.
-
Every class I find a song to play to set the tone in the class.
-
The early sending off has really set the tone for the match.
-
I think the first day of class really sets the tone for the rest of the semester.
-
That's the morning that sets the tone for the whole day.
-
On Monday, June 20, the opening keynote address clearly set the tone for what followed.
Academic text (1994) -
I think it set the tone perfectly for the film, and so we were really excited to have "Master of Puppets" this time.
-
The opening scene of the play really set the tone for the entire performance.
Synonyms
11
3.7
To make a place feel a certain way with lights, music, or decorations
To create a mood in a place with light, music, or decorations
Antonyms
How Lively
- Informal
1
6.5
- Archaic
- Informal
11
3.7
32
4.1
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to establish a particular mood' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'set' (to initiate or bring about) with 'tone' (mood or attitude), so a learner who knows both words can infer the phrase. This verb + noun collocation maps onto a common cross-linguistic pattern (equivalent to 'set the mood' in many languages), making it readily comprehensible to a B1 learner.
Etymology
The phrase set the tone comes from music, where a leader gives the first clear tone to show how a piece should sound. That first sound sets the 'mood', so today set the tone means to start something in a way that creates the 'mood' for what follows.