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Tone   /toʊn/   Listen
Tone

noun
1.
The quality of a person's voice.  Synonym: tone of voice.  "He spoke in a nervous tone of voice"
2.
(linguistics) a pitch or change in pitch of the voice that serves to distinguish words in tonal languages.
3.
(music) the distinctive property of a complex sound (a voice or noise or musical sound).  Synonyms: quality, timber, timbre.  "The muffled tones of the broken bell summoned them to meet"
4.
The general atmosphere of a place or situation and the effect that it has on people.  Synonyms: feel, feeling, flavor, flavour, look, smell, spirit.  "A clergyman improved the tone of the meeting" , "It had the smell of treason"
5.
A quality of a given color that differs slightly from another color.  Synonyms: shade, tincture, tint.
6.
A notation representing the pitch and duration of a musical sound.  Synonyms: musical note, note.
7.
A steady sound without overtones.  Synonym: pure tone.
8.
The elastic tension of living muscles, arteries, etc. that facilitate response to stimuli.  Synonyms: tonicity, tonus.  Antonym: atonicity.
9.
A musical interval of two semitones.  Synonyms: step, whole step, whole tone.
10.
The quality of something (an act or a piece of writing) that reveals the attitudes and presuppositions of the author.  "From the tone of her behavior I gathered that I had outstayed my welcome"
verb
(past & past part. toned; pres. part. toning)
1.
Utter monotonously and repetitively and rhythmically.  Synonyms: chant, intone.
2.
Vary the pitch of one's speech.  Synonyms: inflect, modulate.
3.
Change the color or tone of.
4.
Change to a color image.
5.
Give a healthy elasticity to.  Synonyms: strengthen, tone up.



Related searches:
tone arm
tone deafness
tone down
tone ending
tone language
tone of voice
tone poem
tone system
tone up
tone-beginning
tone-deaf
12-tone music
12-tone system
chest tone
head tone
leading tone
monotone
muscle tone
partial tone
passing tone
pure tone
quarter tone
quarter-tone
toner
twelve-tone music
twelve-tone system
undertone
whole tone


WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University


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"Tone" Quotes from Famous Books



... whose voice was simply grand, both in power and tone. What had she done with her voice? Sung by the hour to the old father whose tender memory lingered with her to-day; less than nothing with it since; no one knew she could sing; she hated singing in school, she never went anywhere ...
— Four Girls at Chautauqua • Pansy
... such crooked ways would have been impossible. Audrey, you must give me time to become acquainted with this new mother. I will not be hard to her, if I can possibly help it; but'—here the bitterness of his tone betrayed his deep agony—'she can never be to me again what ...
— Lover or Friend • Rosa Nouchette Carey
... was all he could utter, but the sweet and grateful tone thanked Franz better than a thousand other words could ...
— Prince Lazybones and Other Stories • Mrs. W. J. Hays
... nettled at his tone. "That is all I wanted to know," I answered. "Of course, Anaconda will have a still bigger rise, and if we have all we care to buy for the new company, no one will object to my telling the public what a good thing it is and putting ...
— Frenzied Finance - Vol. 1: The Crime of Amalgamated • Thomas W. Lawson
... looked at it she exclaimed, "How awful!" And she knocked at once at the door of the ancient clerk and gave the paper to him; and when he looked at it and saw the headline the ancient clerk murmured, "Ah!" in the gentle tone in which very old people greet the news of ...
— Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich • Stephen Leacock


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