tone

Meanings

• 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"
• 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"

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