n.
- a musical or vocal sound with reference to its pitch, quality, and strength.
▸a musical note, warble, or other sound used as a signal on a telephone or answering machine.
- a modulation of the voice expressing a feeling or mood.
- general character:
trust her to lower the tone of the conversation.
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(also whole tone)
a basic interval in classical Western music, equal to two semitones and separating, for example, the first and second notes of an ordinary scale; a major second.
- the particular quality of brightness, deepness, or hue of a colour.
▸the general effect of colour or of light and shade in a picture.
- Phonetics (in some languages, such as Chinese) a particular pitch pattern on a syllable used to make semantic distinctions.
▸(in some languages, such as English) intonation on a word or phrase used to add functional meaning.
-
(also muscle tone)
the normal level of firmness or slight contraction in a resting muscle.
v.
-
(often tone something up)
give greater strength or firmness to (the body or a muscle).
-
(tone something down)
make something less harsh in colour.
▸make something less extreme.
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(tone with)
harmonize with in terms of colour.
- Photography give (a monochrome picture) an altered colour in finishing by means of a chemical solution.
Derivative
- -toned adj.
- toneless adj.
- tonelessly adv.
Etymology
ME: from OFr. ton, from L. tonus, from Gk tonos ‘tension, tone’, from teinein ‘to stretch’.