tone

Definitions

1. 1noun

   Sound, or the character of a sound, or a sound considered as of this or that character; as, a low, high, loud, grave, acute, sweet, or harsh tone.

2. 2noun

   Accent, or inflection or modulation of the voice, as adapted to express emotion or passion.

3. 3noun

   A whining style of speaking; a kind of mournful or artificial strain of voice; an affected speaking with a measured rhythm ahd a regular rise and fall of the voice; as, children often read with a tone.

4. 4noun

   A sound considered as to pitch; as, the seven tones of the octave; she has good high tones.

5. 5noun

   The larger kind of interval between contiguous sounds in the diatonic scale, the smaller being called a semitone as, a whole tone too flat; raise it a tone.

6. 6noun

   The peculiar quality of sound in any voice or instrument; as, a rich tone, a reedy tone.

7. 7noun

   A mode or tune or plain chant; as, the Gregorian tones.

8. 8noun

   That state of a body, or of any of its organs or parts, in which the animal functions are healthy and performed with due vigor.

9. 9noun

   Tonicity; as, arterial tone.

10. 10noun

    State of mind; temper; mood.

11. 11noun

    Tenor; character; spirit; drift; as, the tone of his remarks was commendatory.

12. 12noun

    General or prevailing character or style, as of morals, manners, or sentiment, in reference to a scale of high and low; as, a low tone of morals; a tone of elevated sentiment; a courtly tone of manners.

13. 13noun

    The general effect of a picture produced by the combination of light and shade, together with color in the case of a painting; -- commonly used in a favorable sense; as, this picture has tone.

14. 14transitive verb

    To utter with an affected tone.

15. 15transitive verb

    To give tone, or a particular tone, to; to tune. See Tune. t.

16. 16transitive verb

    To bring, as a print, to a certain required shade of color, as by chemical treatment.

17. 17noun

    a quality of a given color that differs slightly from another color

    "after several trials he mixed the shade of pink that she wanted"

    Synonyms

    shadetincturetint
18. 18noun

    (linguistics) a pitch or change in pitch of the voice that serves to distinguish words in tonal languages

    "the Beijing dialect uses four tones"

19. 19noun

    (music) the distinctive property of a complex sound (a voice or noise or musical sound)

    "the timbre of her soprano was rich and lovely"

    "the muffled tones of the broken bell summoned them to meet"

    Synonyms

    qualitytimbertimbre
20. 20noun

    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"

21. 21noun

    a steady sound without overtones

    "they tested his hearing with pure tones of different frequencies"

22. 22noun

    a musical interval of two semitones

    Synonyms

    step
23. 23noun

    a notation representing the pitch and duration of a musical sound

    "the singer held the note too long"

    Synonyms

    note
24. 24noun

    the quality of a person's voice

    "he began in a conversational tone"

    "he spoke in a nervous tone of voice"

25. 25noun

    the general atmosphere of a place or situation and the effect that it has on people

    "the feel of the city excited him"

    "a clergyman improved the tone of the meeting"

    Synonyms

    feelfeelingflavorflavourlooksmellspirit
26. 26noun

    the elastic tension of living muscles, arteries, etc. that facilitate response to stimuli

    "the doctor tested my tonicity"

    Synonyms

    tonicitytonus
27. 27verb

    give a healthy elasticity to

    "Let's tone our muscles"

    Synonyms

    strengthen
28. 28verb

    change to a color image

    "tone a photographic image"

29. 29verb

    change the color or tone of

    "tone a negative"

30. 30verb

    vary the pitch of one's speech

    Synonyms

    inflectmodulate
31. 31verb

    utter monotonously and repetitively and rhythmically

    "The students chanted the same slogan over and over again"

    Synonyms

    chantintone