in low tones

Measured and deliberate, the film avoids grandstanding, speaking in low tones where another movie might shout.

When I get up to go to the bathroom, I hear her downstairs, talking on the phone in low tones, probably to Dad, who left early for work.

Charles Lyles, who has disparaged the officers’ actions in low tones throughout the proceedings from his seat at counsel table, interrupted Buck as he was explaining purported evidence he says bolsters the belief Lyles wanted police to kill her.

Jason and Frank stood at the helm, talking in low tones—maybe telling stories of the legion, or sharing thoughts on being praetor.

In low tones, she told her husband that there had been “a burglary,” a remark which—repeated by a well-meaning eavesdropper to his neighbor—spread rapidly around the room and generated a flurry of unwanted concern.