tone (təʊn
)
Definitions
noun
- sound with reference to quality, pitch, or volume
- short for tone colour
- US Canadian another word for note (sense 10)
- (in acoustic analysis) a sound resulting from periodic or regular vibrations, composed either of a simple sinusoidal waveform (pure tone) or of several such waveforms superimposed upon one main one (compound tone)
- an interval of a major second; whole tone
- Gregorian toneany of several plainsong melodies or other chants used in the singing of psalms
- linguistics any of the pitch levels or pitch contours at which a syllable may be pronounced, such as high tone, falling tone, etc
- the quality or character of a sound ⇒
a nervous tone of voice
- general aspect, quality, or style ⇒
I didn't like the tone of his speech
- high quality or style ⇒
to lower the tone of a place
- the quality of a given colour, as modified by mixture with white or black; shade; tint ⇒
a tone of red
- physiology
- the normal tension of a muscle at rest
- the natural firmness of the tissues and normal functioning of bodily organs in health
- the overall effect of the colour values and gradations of light and dark in a picture
- photography a colour or shade of colour, including black or grey, of a particular area on a negative or positive that can be distinguished from surrounding lighter or darker areas
verb
- (intr) with to be of a matching or similar tone (to) ⇒
the curtains tone with the carpet
- (tr) to give a tone to or correct the tone of
- photography (tr) to soften or change the colour of the tones of (a photographic image) by chemical means
- (tr) to give greater firmness or strength to (the body or a part of the body)
- an archaic word for intone
Word Origin
C14: from Latin tonus, from Greek tonos tension, tone, from teinein to stretch
Synonyms
View thesaurus entry
=
pitch,
stress,
volume,
accent,
force,
strength,
emphasis,
inflection,
intonation,
timbre,
modulation,
tonality,
=
character,
style,
approach,
feel,
air,
effect,
note,
quality,
spirit,
attitude,
aspect,
frame,
manner,
mood,
drift,
grain,
temper,
vein,
tenor,
