undertone
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: derivation
Etymology: Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *h₁én
Proto-Indo-European *h₁entér
Proto-Indo-European *(H)n̥dʰí
Proto-Indo-European *-ér
Proto-Indo-European *(H)n̥dʰér
Proto-Germanic *under
Proto-West Germanic *undar
Old English under-
Middle English under-
English under-
English tone
English undertone
From under- + tone.
Inflected forms:
form: undertones
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: undertones
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: undertoning
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: undertoned
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: undertoned
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: An auditory tone of low pitch or volume.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Did he and his master converse? Watt had never heard them do so, as he surely would have done, if they had done so. In an undertone perhaps. Yes, perhaps they conversed in undertones, the master and the servant, in two undertones, the master's undertone, the servant's undertone.
They gathered soberly in the farthest recess of the ward and gossiped about him in malicious, offended undertones, rebelling against his presence as a ghastly imposition and resenting him malevolently for the nauseating truth of which he was bright reminder.
gloss: An implicit message perceived subtly alongside, but not detracting noticeably from, the explicit message conveyed in or by a book, film, speech or similar (contrast with overtone); an undercurrent.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A pale colour, or one seen underneath another colour.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A low state of the physical faculties.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Sedentary occupations are likely to result in undertone, and this undertone not being relieved by physiological means, constipation is a probable outcome.
gloss: To accompany as an undertone.
pos: verb
examples: The Missionary's address rolled on in choppy Chinook, undertoned by a gentle voice from the back of the room which told Tanook in pure Indian words what he was to do.
Undertoning the howling siren I was aware of a distant swish, like that of a hurricane’s forerunning wind through palm fronds.
gloss: To say or speak in an undertone.
pos: verb
examples: Evan paid no attention to him, and answered none of his hasty undertoned questions.
At first, when the net was being prepared, those children of the forest had merely stood by and looked on with curiosity. When Blondin and his men rowed out from the shore, letting the net drop off the stern of our boat as they went, they indulged in a few guesses and undertoned remarks.
“He handles that pallet like it was a mule,” McCoy undertoned, passing Mason. Mason grinned and fell in behind.
“How come there’s never any birds in cemeteries?” Skelote undertoned. “Squirrels, rabbits, but no birds.”
gloss: To present as less important, noticeable or prominent.
pos: verb
examples: Men rarely make this mistake, their habitual blunder being to undertone everything, to make too light of Julia's new frock, and Johnnie's symptoms of measles, and the way they waste things down stairs.
2010, Maddy Myers, “Arisia 2010: the Sexiest of Sci-Fi Cons,” thephoenix.com, 26 January, 2010,
It’s hard enough to separate the geeks from the creeps at your average Anime con (it’s more of a Venn Diagram than an either/or, really). The task becomes even more difficult at Arisia, where the sexual undertones are … not particularly undertoned.
Synonyms: underhue
Antonyms: accent
accentuate
Translations: