How to Use tone-deaf in a Sentence

tone-deaf

adjective

• But Met Gala was a tone-deaf charade of excess and hypocrisy.
  — Jane Onyanga-Omara, USA TODAY, 8 May 2024
• It’s lined with palm trees that always seem out of place to me, tone-deaf in their presence.
  — Hazlitt, 28 June 2022
• Meek Mill is not the only rapper to share his opinion on the tone-deaf statement.
  — Demicia Inman, VIBE.com, 16 Aug. 2024
• Negishi’s death was announced this week, at the age of 100, which means a century of making the world a louder, more tone-deaf place.
  — Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 16 Mar. 2024
• This is an offensive and tone-deaf gesture that holds the people in contempt.
  — Town & Country, 6 May 2023
• This is yet another tone-deaf slap in the face from our out-of-touch public utilities.
  — Edmund H. Mahony, Hartford Courant, 12 Nov. 2024
• Left-leaning users have called the campaign’s posts tone-deaf in light of the ongoing atrocities in Gaza.
  — Makena Kelly, WIRED, 24 Feb. 2024
• Lavender went on a listening tour with customers, who were quick to share that Intel had been tone-deaf.
  — Fortune Editors, Fortune, 5 June 2024
• Sure, the new ad is tone-deaf — after all, Apple rose to prominence by aligning itself with creative types.
  — Elizabeth Lopatto, The Verge, 9 May 2024
• Josh McDaniels must’ve been tone-deaf and inept, judging by the gusto Raiders players have shown since his dismissal.
  — Tom Krasovic, San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 Dec. 2023
• Some critics say the process leading up to the vote has lacked transparency and, more directly, that the regulator is tone-deaf to the plight of motorists.
  — Rob Nikolewski, The Mercury News, 4 Nov. 2024
• According to a 1968 Times report, MacRae was originally cast to play a tone-deaf lounge singer for a single episode.
  — Malia Mendez, Los Angeles Times, 30 May 2024
• The commenters had an absolute field day with what many view as a tone-deaf and retrogressive fashion shoot.
  — Kathleen Walsh, Glamour, 28 Nov. 2023
• To some who identify as huge fans of Swift – presumably the group being courted – the outcry is both tone-deaf and flattering.
  — Andre Mouchard, Orange County Register, 4 Feb. 2024
• Rachel Zegler is hardly white as snow and, worse, she’s been one of the most notoriously tone-deaf Hollywood stars during her press tour for the film.
  — Erik Kain, Forbes, 4 Dec. 2024
• Though Racquel told them all about her good memories of this beach, Ubah is already pitching another tone-deaf fit.
  — Brian Moylan, Vulture, 7 Jan. 2025
• The big picture: A lot of viewers see the ad as a tone-deaf portrait of how AI could suck the humanity out of a tradition — the fan note — that's supposed to be handwritten and heartfelt.
  — Megan Morrone, Axios, 2 Aug. 2024
• To some people, this preoccupation with horror can seem tone-deaf.
  — Sarah Kollat, Discover Magazine, 25 Oct. 2024
• The tone-deaf response by college students and left-wing activists has been matched by statements from the halls of power that are equally callous toward Palestinian lives.
  — TIME, 14 Oct. 2023
• At the time, the film received backlash for promotional strategies that were considered tone-deaf, given the domestic violence plot line in the film.
  — Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 24 Dec. 2024
• But the Me Too–riffing story line involving Alice, which makes for some rough riding throughout the season, gets off to a particularly rocky and tone-deaf start here.
  — Larry Fitzmaurice, Vulture, 8 Apr. 2024
• Large brands have made famously tone-deaf commercials that left viewers wondering why the decision-makers lacked eyes to see the problem.
  — Gregory Crawford, Forbes, 16 Feb. 2024
• Democrats mocked the tone-deaf exercise, which came as GOP lawmakers push the nation to the brink of default by refusing to raise the debt ceiling without punishing cuts to social programs.
  — Dave Goldiner New York Daily News (tns), al, 26 Jan. 2023
• As an example, consider the word ‘tone-deaf,’ which is often used in professional settings to describe how a message won’t land.
  — Kavitha Prabhakar, Forbes, 8 Mar. 2023
• But more damaging than the cringe of a tone-deaf tweet about diversity is when companies give up on the performance altogether.
  — Allison Morrow, CNN, 6 Sep. 2024
• But from the pageantry of the tropical getaway, accusations of the trip being tone-deaf coupled with the memory of Tarte’s past faux pas have created a massive discussion online.
  — Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 8 Mar. 2024
• But critics have called it tone-deaf — with several marketing experts noting the campaign’s execution missed the mark.
  — Wyatte Grantham-Philips, Fortune, 9 May 2024
• Then there’s the tone-deaf depiction of an Indigenous healer in traditional attire during gruesome passages that imply Jesús has been cursed since birth.
  — Carlos Aguilar, Variety, 30 Aug. 2024
• These two aren’t alone delivering tone-deaf missives over virtual meetings.
  — Allison Morrow, CNN, 20 Apr. 2023
• Some anti-monarchists consider the gesture unnecessary and tone-deaf.
  — Conor Murray, Forbes, 5 May 2023

Last Updated: 23 Feb 2025