TONE • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Tone

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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.

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.

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Etymology of 'Tone'

Related searches:

twelve-tone music

twelve-tone system

WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University

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"Tone" Quotes from Famous Books

... it being possible to speak in an ordinary tone once again and be heard. "When we get out of the canyon we'll circle around the herd and precede it to Rolling Spring Valley, where the ...

— Nan Sherwood at Rose Ranch • Annie Roe Carr

... her policy and purposes in regard to them, we do not hear of an angry form of expression from her. We employed very strong language last year in regard to the rights of American fishermen; but the reply of Great Britain scarcely assumed the tone of remonstrance against the intemperate tone of our debates. Her policy upon all such occasions is one of wisdom. Her strong and stern purpose is seldom to be seen in her diplomatic intercourse, or in the debates of her leading statesmen; but if you were about her ...

— The World's Best Orations, Vol. 1 (of 10) • Various

... of God as the unity of thought and being, and the idea of man's absolute dependence upon the world-ground, call to mind the pantheism of Spinoza. Schleiermacher seeks to tone this down by giving the world of things a relative independence; God and the world are inseparable, and yet must be distinguished. God is unity without plurality, the world plurality without unity; the world is spatial-temporal, ...

— The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: - Masterpieces of German Literature Translated into English, Volume 5. • Various

... baked in fantastic shapes, like Turks' heads and fluted melons, were rich, warm, brown, or white and gleaming as Christmas snow. The pastry showed all shades from palest buff to tender delicate brown, and for depth of tone there were their rich interiors of dark mincemeat and golden custards. Of the pleasures of this beautiful world not the least is the ...

— Princess • Mary Greenway McClelland

... she answered in a tone of vexation, and she made her word good by walking quite actively away in ...

— The Daughter of the Storage - And Other Things in Prose and Verse • William Dean Howells

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