tone Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the quality of a person's voice
    tone of voice.
    • he began in a conversational tone
    • he spoke in a nervous tone of voice
  2. noun (linguistics) a pitch or change in pitch of the voice that serves to distinguish words in tonal languages
    • the Beijing dialect uses four tones
  3. noun (music) the distinctive property of a complex sound (a voice or noise or musical sound)
    timbre; quality; timber.
    • the timbre of her soprano was rich and lovely
    • the muffled tones of the broken bell summoned them to meet
  4. noun the general atmosphere of a place or situation and the effect that it has on people
    flavour; look; feel; flavor; feeling; smell; spirit.
    • the feel of the city excited him
    • a clergyman improved the tone of the meeting
    • it had the smell of treason
  5. noun a quality of a given color that differs slightly from another color
    tint; tincture; shade.
    • after several trials he mixed the shade of pink that she wanted
  6. noun a notation representing the pitch and duration of a musical sound
    note; musical note.
    • the singer held the note too long
  7. noun a steady sound without overtones
    pure tone.
    • they tested his hearing with pure tones of different frequencies
  8. noun the elastic tension of living muscles, arteries, etc. that facilitate response to stimuli
    tonicity; tonus.
    • the doctor tested my tonicity
  9. noun a musical interval of two semitones
    whole step; step; whole tone.
  10. noun 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
  11. verb utter monotonously and repetitively and rhythmically
    chant; intone.
    • The students chanted the same slogan over and over again
  12. verb vary the pitch of one's speech
    inflect; modulate.
  13. verb change the color or tone of
    • tone a negative
  14. verb change to a color image
    • tone a photographic image
  15. verb give a healthy elasticity to
    strengthen; tone up.
    • Let's tone our muscles

WordNet

Tone noun
Etymology
F. ton, L. tonus a sound, tone, fr. Gr. a stretching, straining, raising of the voice, pitch, accent, measure or meter, in pl., modes or keys differing in pitch; akin to to stretch or strain. See Thin, and cf. Monotonous, Thunder, Ton fasion,Tune.
Definitions
  1. Sound, or the character of a sound, or a sound considered as of this or that character; as, a low, high, loud, grave, acute, sweet, or harsh tone.
    [Harmony divine] smooths her charming tones. Milton.
    Tones that with seraph hymns might blend. Keble.
  2. (Rhet.) Accent, or inflection or modulation of the voice, as adapted to express emotion or passion.
    Eager his tone, and ardent were his eyes. Dryden.
  3. A whining style of speaking; a kind of mournful or artificial strain of voice; an affected speaking with a measured rhythm ahd a regular rise and fall of the voice; as, children often read with a tone.
  4. (Mus.) (a) A sound considered as to pitch; as, the seven tones of the octave; she has good high tones. (b) The larger kind of interval between contiguous sounds in the diatonic scale, the smaller being called a semitone as, a whole tone too flat; raise it a tone. (c) The peculiar quality of sound in any voice or instrument; as, a rich tone, a reedy tone. (d) A mode or tune or plain chant; as, the Gregorian tones. ✍ The use of the word tone, both for a sound and for the interval between two sounds or tones, is confusing, but is common -- almost universal. ✍ Nearly every musical sound is composite, consisting of several simultaneous tones having different rates of vibration according to fixed laws, which depend upon the nature of the vibrating body and the mode of excitation. The components (of a composite sound) are called partial tones; that one having the lowest rate of vibration is the fundamental tone, and the other partial tones are called harmonics, or overtones. The vibration ratios of the partial tones composing any sound are expressed by all, or by a part, of the numbers in the series 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc.; and the quality of any sound (the tone color) is due in part to the presence or absence of overtones as represented in this series, and in part to the greater or less intensity of those present as compared with the fundamental tone and with one another. Resultant tones, combination tones, summation tones, difference tones, Tartini's tones (terms only in part synonymous) are produced by the simultaneous sounding of two or more primary (simple or composite) tones.
  5. (Med.) That state of a body, or of any of its organs or parts, in which the animal functions are healthy and performed with due vigor. ✍ In this sense, the word is metaphorically applied to character or faculties, intellectual and moral; as, his mind has lost its tone.
  6. (Physiol.) Tonicity; as, arterial tone.
  7. State of mind; temper; mood.
    The strange situation I am in and the melancholy state of public affairs, . . . drag the mind down . . . from a philosophical tone or temper, to the drudgery of private and public business. Bolingbroke.
    Their tone was dissatisfied, almost menacing. W. C. Bryant.
  8. Tenor; character; spirit; drift; as, the tone of his remarks was commendatory.
  9. General or prevailing character or style, as of morals, manners, or sentiment, in reference to a scale of high and low; as, a low tone of morals; a tone of elevated sentiment; a courtly tone of manners.
  10. The general effect of a picture produced by the combination of light and shade, together with color in the case of a painting; -- commonly used in a favorable sense; as, this picture has tone.
Tone transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Toned ; present participle & verbal noun Toning
Definitions
  1. To utter with an affected tone.
  2. To give tone, or a particular tone, to; to tune. See Tune, v. t.
  3. (Photog.) To bring, as a print, to a certain required shade of color, as by chemical treatment.

Webster 1913