overtone

Plural: overtones

Noun

• A higher partial tone that is part of a musical note.
• (usually plural) an ulterior implicit meaning or quality
  • "overtones of despair"
• a harmonic with a frequency that is a multiple of the fundamental frequency
• A tone whose frequency is an integer multiple of another; a member of the harmonic series.
• An implicit message (in a film, book, verbal discussion, or similar) perceived as overwhelming the explicit message.
• An implicit message (in a film, book, verbal discussion, or similar) perceived subtly alongside, but not overwhelming, the explicit message.

Verb

• To give an overtone to.

Examples

• Despite his winning smile, there was an overtone of arrogance in his Scrabble challenge.

Synonyms

partial, partial tone, undercurrent, undertone

Antonyms

undertone