tone

Noun

• 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 musical interval of two semitones

• the elastic tension of living muscles, arteries, etc. that facilitate response to stimuli
  • the doctor tested my tonicity
    

• a steady sound without overtones
  • they tested his hearing with pure tones of different frequencies
    

• a notation representing the pitch and duration of a musical sound
  • the singer held the note too long
    

• a quality of a given color that differs slightly from another color
  • after several trials he mixed the shade of pink that she wanted
    

• 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
    

• (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
    

• (linguistics) a pitch or change in pitch of the voice that serves to distinguish words in tonal languages
  • the Beijing dialect uses four tones
    

• the quality of a person's voice
  • he began in a conversational tone
    
  • he spoke in a nervous tone of voice
    

Verb

• give a healthy elasticity to
  • Let's tone our muscles
    

• change to a color image
  • tone a photographic image
    

• change the color or tone of
  • tone a negative
    

• vary the pitch of one's speech

• utter monotonously and repetitively and rhythmically
  • The students chanted the same slogan over and over again
    

Related words

• Synonyms: 
  whole tone , step , whole step , tonicity , tonus , pure tone , note , musical note , shade , tint , tincture , spirit , feel , feeling , flavor , flavour , look , smell , timbre , timber , quality , tone of voice , tone up , strengthen , inflect , modulate , chant , intone
• Antonyms: 
  atonicity , atony , atonia , amyotonia