tenor – English noun declension

English noun forms of tenor

Noun: tenor
Singulartenor
Pluraltenors

Sample Sentences

  • Colonel Walton, who had striven to check the conversation at moments when he became conscious of its tenor, now gladly engaged his guest on other and more legitimate topics. [1835, William Gilmore Simms, The Partisan, Harper, Chapter XI, page 145:]
  • It is the conſciouſneſs of this merited approbation and eſteem which is alone capable of ſupporting the agent in this tenour of conduct. [1790, Adam Smith, “Of the Beauty which the Appearance of Utility Bestows upon the Charactes and Actions of Men; […]”, in The Theory of Moral Sentiments; […] In Two Volumes, 6th edition, volume I, London: […] A[ndrew] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell […]; Edinburgh: W[illiam] Creech, and J. Bell & Co., →OCLC, part IV, page 481:]
  • Along the cool sequestered vale of life / They kept the noiseless tenor of their way. [1751, Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard:]
  • This success would look like chance, if it were perpetual, and always of the same tenor. [1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight’s Tale. In Three Books.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:]
  • Than he shall delyuer to vs a tenour of that he ought to do. [1523, Lord Berners, The Chronicle of Froissart:]
  • When it [the bond] is paid according to the tenor. [c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:]
  • He would have learned , by the whole tenor of the divine law , and especially by the example of the absent Lord , whose property he was for a season trusted with , that he was to do as much good to humanity , and win as much glory to God, as was compatible with the measure of his trust, and for the time for which he might retain it. [1832, Caroline Wilson, The Listener:]
  • The general tenor of the report on No. 35020 is that all the improvements in performance aimed at in the rebuilding of these engines have been achieved. [1960 March, “Testing a rebuilt "Merchant Navy" Pacific of the S.R.”, in Trains Illustrated, page 169:]

Etymology

From Middle English tenour, from Anglo-Norman tenour, from Old French tenor (“substance, contents, meaning, sense; tenor part in music”), from Latin tenor (“course, continuance; holder”), from teneō (“to hold”). In music, from the notion of the one who holds the melody, as opposed to the countertenor. See: Middle English Nouns 'tenour', Latin Nouns 'tenor'.