attune
verb
Simple meaning
To bring into harmony or accord.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
uhtoonSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
əˈtun
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
transitivefigurative
To bring into harmony or accord.
musictransitive
To bring into musical accord.
musictransitive
To tune (an instrument).
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To bring into harmony or accord.
Used this way, attune is a reasonably familiar word with a mildly favourable edge. This is a musical use: it is everyday language among musicians and listeners, and specialised outside that.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Positive and appreciative
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Music/performance
- Arts writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use attune
- “By meditating, I try to attune myself to the greater cosmos.”verb
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.