tone
Nouns
-
(n) the quality of a person's voice
- he began in a conversational tone
- he spoke in a nervous tone of voice
-
(n) (linguistics) a pitch or change in pitch of the voice that serves to distinguish words in tonal languages
- the Beijing dialect uses four tones
-
(n) (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
-
(n) 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
- it had the smell of treason
-
(n) a quality of a given color that differs slightly from another color
- after several trials he mixed the shade of pink that she wanted
-
(n) a notation representing the pitch and duration of a musical sound
- the singer held the note too long
-
(n) a steady sound without overtones
- they tested his hearing with pure tones of different frequencies
-
(n) the elastic tension of living muscles, arteries, etc. that facilitate response to stimuli
- the doctor tested my tonicity
- (n) a musical interval of two semitones whole step, whole tone, step,
-
(n) 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
Verbs
-
(v) utter monotonously and repetitively and rhythmically
- The students chanted the same slogan over and over again
- (v) vary the pitch of one's speech inflect, modulate,
-
(v) change the color or tone of
- tone a negative
-
(v) change to a color image
- tone a photographic image
-
(v) give a healthy elasticity to
- Let's tone our muscles