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Tone Very Common

Tone has 19 different meanings across 4 categories:

Noun · Verb · Pron · Proper Noun

Definitions
Noun
1

the quality of a person's voice

"he began in a conversational tone"

"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

"the Beijing dialect uses four tones"

3

(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"

4

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"

5

a quality of a given color that differs slightly from another color

"after several trials he mixed the shade of pink that she wanted"

6

a notation representing the pitch and duration of a musical sound

"the singer held the note too long"

7

a steady sound without overtones

"they tested his hearing with pure tones of different frequencies"

8

the elastic tension of living muscles, arteries, etc. that facilitate response to stimuli

"the doctor tested my tonicity"

9

a musical interval of two semitones

"The singer hit that minor third perfectly, but she wavered slightly on the tritone before resolving back to the root."

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"

11

A specific pitch.

"The singer hit such a high tone on that note that it seemed to shatter the glass above her head."

In plain English: Tone is the specific attitude or feeling that someone conveys through their words or voice.

"She spoke in a calm tone to reassure her nervous friend."

Verb
1

utter monotonously and repetitively and rhythmically

"The students chanted the same slogan over and over again"

2

vary the pitch of one's speech

"She had to constantly adjust her tone while singing the high notes in the chorus."

3

change the color or tone of

"tone a negative"

4

change to a color image

"tone a photographic image"

5

give a healthy elasticity to

"Let's tone our muscles"

6

to give a particular tone to

"The director asked the actor to add more warmth to his delivery so it would resonate better with the audience."

In plain English: To tone something means to make it less intense or extreme, like calming down an angry situation.

"Please tone down your voice while we are trying to sleep."

Usage: Use this verb when describing how someone adjusts their voice, writing style, or attitude to convey a specific mood or impression. It is often paired with abstract nouns like humor, seriousness, or warmth rather than physical sounds.

Pron
1

the one (of two)

"When I have to choose between a red wine and a white, my preference is always for the lighter tone of the pair."

Proper Noun
1

A male given name, a short form of Anthony/Antony

"The new tone at our office party was Tony from accounting who brought an extra-large pizza."

Example Sentences
"She spoke in a calm tone to reassure her nervous friend." noun
"Please tone down your voice while we are trying to sleep." verb
"He tried to tone down his aggressive comments during the meeting." verb
"The teacher told us to tone our voices so everyone could hear clearly." verb
"We need to tone these instructions before sending them out to the team." verb
See Also
atonal note tonality pip harmonize eigentone contone bipunctum
Related Terms
atonal note tonality pip harmonize eigentone contone bipunctum silvery overtone thigh master tone deaf hypertonia high sounding writing undertone pitch perfect intone intonation toning
Antonyms
atony
Broader Terms (hypernyms)
manner of speaking pitch sound property atmosphere color musical notation sound tension interval quality talk discolor exercise
Narrower Terms (hyponyms)
note roundness undertone harmonic resonance color nasality plangency shrillness register Hollywood Zeitgeist mellowness richness tonic supertonic mediant subdominant dominant submediant subtonic pedal point trill middle C chord passing note whole note half note quarter note eighth note sixteenth note thirty-second note sixty-fourth note grace note blue note monotone catatonia muscular tonus myotonia hypertonia hypotonia

Origin

The word "tone" comes from the Latin tonus, meaning "sound," which was borrowed into English via Middle English. Its ultimate origin is Ancient Greek, where it originally described a physical strain or tension before evolving to mean musical pitch.

Rhyming Words
one done wone lone mone fone none zone pone cone hone rone sone jone ione yone gone bone prone stone
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