tone police

English

Verb

tone police (third-person singular simple present tone polices, present participle tone policing, simple past and past participle tone policed)

  1. (slang, derogatory) To complain about the tone of one or more participants in a debate or discussion, especially one perceived as heated, disrespectful, etc.
    • 2017, Fobazi M. Ettarh, “Equality is not Pie; Libraries and the Insidiousness of Subtle Racism”, in fobaziettarh.com‎[1]:
      Many white women will tone police, dominate conversation, and then when challenged follow the following playbook […]
    • 2025 March 17, Andrew Marantz, “The Battle for the Bros”, in The New Yorker‎[2], →ISSN:
      When his commenters try to tone-police him, [Hasan] Piker will often single one of them out and say, “Congratulations, chatter, you’ve won Woke of the Day.” It’s not a compliment.

Translations

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