détonner

\de.tɔ.ne\

/\de.tɔ.ne\/ verb

The verdict

“détonner” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
8
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Sortir du ton qu’on doit garder pour chanter juste.

Corpus desk

Index FR-detonner · détonner · French

détonner · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "D" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for détonner
PropertyValue
Headworddétonner
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\de.tɔ.ne\
Letters8
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « détonner » en français

détonnerreste hors des 100.000 mots français les plus fréquents, dans la longue queue du vocabulaire technique, archaïque ou rare, là où le doute d'orthographe frappe.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

détonner is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed \de.tɔ.ne\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for détonner, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is détonner, spelled D-É-T-O-N-N-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Sortir du ton qu’on doit garder pour chanter juste.
  2. 2
    Contenir des choses qui ne sont pas dans le ton général, en parlant des choses ou des personnes.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how détonner appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Il n’a pas l’oreille juste, il détonne à tout moment.
  2. Le secret est de ne pas les écouter quand ils détonnent ou quand ils changent la mélodie, et de jouer au piano, avec un rythme bien appuyé quelque chose qui ressemble à ce qu’il croit avoir dicté, mais qui, musicalement, a un sens.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "détonner"?
"détonner" is spelled D-É-T-O-N-N-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is \de.tɔ.ne\.
What does "détonner" mean?
As a verb, "détonner" means: Sortir du ton qu’on doit garder pour chanter juste.
How do you pronounce "détonner"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "détonner" is \de.tɔ.ne\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "détonner" come from?
"détonner" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list