TONE • DICCIONARIO INGLES.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. 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.

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Related searches:

twelve-tone music

twelve-tone system

WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University

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"Tone" Quotes from Famous Books

... few moments now ensued; during which the bench of judges communed with Captain Guy, in a low tone, and the sailors canvassed the motives of the consul in having the ...

— Omoo: Adventures in the South Seas • Herman Melville

... he said, in a tone of voice so adorably kind that the bitterness of her grief was changed to something inexpressibly tender. "I too have made mistakes; I have worked uselessly for my country when I thought I was being useful to her. But now I mean to take another path. If I had sold groceries we should now be millionaires. ...

— Bureaucracy • Honore de Balzac

... But lips where smiles went out and in; There was no guessing his kith and kin! And nobody could enough admire The tall man and his quaint attire. Quoth one: "It's as if my great-grandsire, Starting up at the trump of Doom's tone, Had walked this way ...

— Holiday Stories for Young People • Various

... deceived by our interpreter in regard to the word assassination, I do aver, and will to my dying moment; so will every officer that was present. The interpreter was a Dutchman, little acquainted with the English tongue, therefore might not advert to the tone and meaning of the word in English; but, whatever his motives were for so doing, certain it is, he called it the death, or the loss of the Sieur Jumonville. So we received and so we understood ...

— The Life of George Washington, Vol. 2 (of 5) • John Marshall

... declamation, no display. As one listened, one seemed to hear the genuine thoughts of a singularly clever and reflective man, who had strong prejudices of his own in favour of religion, authority, and property, but was quite unswayed by the prejudices of other people. The general tone of his thought was sombre. Lord Lytton described, with curious exactness, the "massive temple," the "large slouching shoulder," and the "prone head," which ...

— Prime Ministers and Some Others - A Book of Reminiscences • George W. E. Russell

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