tenor

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   (of a musical instrument) intermediate between alto and baritone or bass

   A tenor sax.

2. 2
   noun

   the general meaning or substance of an utterance

   Although I disagreed with them, I could follow the tenor of their argument.

3. 3
   noun

   a settled, prevailing, habitual course of a person's life

   Nothing disturbed the even tenor of my life.

4. 4
   adj

   of or close in range to the highest natural adult male voice

   Tenor voice.

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.

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