tone
n 1: the quality of a person's voice; "he began in a
conversational tone"; "he spoke in a nervous tone of
voice" [syn: {tone of voice}]
2: (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: 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" [syn: {timbre}, {timber}, {quality}]
4: the general atmosphere of a place or situation; "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}, {look}, {smell}]
5: a quality of a given color that differs slightly from a
primary color; "after several trials he mixed the shade of
pink that she wanted" [syn: {shade}, {tint}, {tincture}]
6: a notation representing the pitch and duration of a musical
sound; "the singer held the note too long" [syn: {note}, {musical
note}]
7: a steady sound without overtones; "they tested his hearing
with pure tones of different frequencies" [syn: {pure tone}]
8: the elastic tension of living muscles, arteries, etc. that
facilitate response to stimuli; "the doctor tested my
tonicity" [syn: {tonicity}, {tonus}] [ant: {atonicity}]
9: a musical interval of two semitones [syn: {whole tone}, {step},
{whole step}]
10: 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"
v 1: change the color or tone of
2: change to a color image; of photography
3: give a healthy elasticity to; "Let's tone our muscles" [syn:
{tone up}, {strengthen}]