the quality of a persons voice; he began in a conversational tone; he spoke in a nervous tone of voice
[ Syn: tone of voice ]
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'
(linguistics) a pitch or change in pitch of the voice that serves to distinguish words in tonal languages; the Beijing dialect uses four tones'
(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
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
[ Syn: spirit , feel , feeling , flavor , flavour , look , smell ]
a quality of a given color that differs slightly from another color; after several trials he mixed the shade of pink that she wanted
a notation representing the pitch and duration of a musical sound; the singer held the note too long
[ Syn: note , musical note ]
a steady sound without overtones; they tested his hearing with pure tones of different frequencies
[ Syn: pure tone ]
the elastic tension of living muscles, arteries, etc. that facilitate response to stimuli; the doctor tested my tonicity
a musical interval of two semitones
[ Syn: whole tone , step , whole step ]
tone (n.)
utter monotonously and repetitively and rhythmically; The students chanted the same slogan over and over again
vary the pitch of ones speech
change the color or tone of; tone a negative'
change to a color image; tone a photographic image'
give a healthy elasticity to; Lets tone our muscles
[ Syn: tone up , strengthen ]