tone

Plural: tones

Noun

• the quality of a person's voice
  • "he began in a conversational tone"
  • "he spoke in a nervous tone of voice"
• (linguistics) a pitch or change in pitch of the voice that serves to distinguish words in tonal languages
  • "the Beijing dialect uses four tones"
• (music) the distinctive property of a complex sound (a voice or noise or musical sound)
  • "the muffled tones of the broken bell summoned them to meet"
• the general atmosphere of a place or situation and the effect that it has on people
  • "a clergyman improved the tone of the meeting"
• a quality of a given color that differs slightly from another color
• a notation representing the pitch and duration of a musical sound
• a steady sound without overtones
  • "they tested his hearing with pure tones of different frequencies"
• the elastic tension of living muscles, arteries, etc. that facilitate response to stimuli
• a musical interval of two semitones
• the quality of something (an act or a piece of writing) that reveals the attitudes and presuppositions of the author
  • "the general tone of articles appearing in the newspapers is that the government should withdraw"
  • "from the tone of her behavior I gathered that I had outstayed my welcome"
• A specific pitch.
• (in the diatonic scale) An interval of a major second.
• (in a Gregorian chant) A recitational melody.
• The character of a sound, especially the timbre of an instrument or voice.
• The pitch of a word's sound that distinguishes a difference in meaning, as for example in Chinese.
• A whining style of speaking; a kind of mournful or artificial strain of voice; an affected speaking with a measured rhythm and a regular rise and fall of the voice.
• The manner in which speech or writing is expressed, especially the aspects of diction (word choice), connotation, emotiveness, and register.
• State of mind; temper; mood.
• The shade or quality of a colour.
• The favourable effect of a picture produced by the combination of light and shade, or of colours.
• The definition and firmness of a muscle or organ; see also: tonus.
• The state of a living body or of any of its organs or parts in which the functions are healthy and performed with due vigor.
• Normal tension or responsiveness to stimuli.
• a gun
• The general character, atmosphere, mood, or vibe (of a situation, place, etc.).
• The quality of being respectable or admirable.

Verb

Verb Forms: toned, toning, tones

• To give a particular sound, character, or quality to something.
• utter monotonously and repetitively and rhythmically
• vary the pitch of one's speech
• change the color or tone of
  • "tone a negative"
• change to a color image
  • "tone a photographic image"
• give a healthy elasticity to
  • "Let's tone our muscles"
• to give a particular tone to
• to change the colour of
• to make (something) firmer
• to utter with an affected tone.

Pron

• the one (of two)

Examples

• Children often read with a tone.
• He tried to tone down his excitement after playing a bingo, not wanting to intimidate his opponent.
• Her rousing speech gave an upbeat tone to the rest of the evening.
• This picture has tone.

Synonyms

chant, feel, feeling, flavor, flavour, inflect, intone, look, modulate, musical note, note, pure tone, quality, shade, smell, spirit, step, strengthen, timber, timbre, tincture, tint, tone of voice, tone up, tonicity, tonus, whole step, whole tone, color, colour, dye, firm, firm up, paint

Antonyms

atonicity

Related Words

atonal, diatonic, intonation, intone, monotone, ringtone, tonal, tonality, tone-deaf, tone-deafness, toneme, tonic, tonicity, tune

Anagrams of tone