Definitions for tone

Definitions for (noun) tone

Main entry: shade, tincture, tint, tone

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

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


Main entry: tone

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

Usage: the Beijing dialect uses four tones


Main entry: quality, timber, timbre, tone

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

Usage: the timbre of her soprano was rich and lovely; the muffled tones of the broken bell summoned them to meet


Main entry: tone

Definition: the quality of something (an act or a piece of writing) that reveals the attitudes and presuppositions of the author

Usage: 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


Main entry: pure tone, tone

Definition: a steady sound without overtones

Usage: they tested his hearing with pure tones of different frequencies


Main entry: step, tone, whole step, whole tone

Definition: a musical interval of two semitones


Main entry: musical note, note, tone

Definition: a notation representing the pitch and duration of a musical sound

Usage: the singer held the note too long


Main entry: tone, tone of voice

Definition: the quality of a person's voice

Usage: he began in a conversational tone; he spoke in a nervous tone of voice


Main entry: look, feel, feeling, flavor, flavour, tone, smell, spirit

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

Usage: the feel of the city excited him; a clergyman improved the tone of the meeting; it had the smell of treason


Main entry: tone, tonicity, tonus

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

Usage: the doctor tested my tonicity


Definitions for (verb) tone

Main entry: tone, tone up, strengthen

Definition: give a healthy elasticity to

Usage: Let's tone our muscles


Main entry: tone

Definition: change to a color image

Usage: tone a photographic image


Main entry: tone

Definition: change the color or tone of

Usage: tone a negative


Main entry: tone, inflect, modulate

Definition: vary the pitch of one's speech


Main entry: chant, tone, intone

Definition: utter monotonously and repetitively and rhythmically

Usage: The students chanted the same slogan over and over again


Visual thesaurus for tone