tone
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: biology
entertainment
human-sciences
language
lifestyle
linguistics
literature
media
music
natural-sciences
publishing
sciences
Etymology: From Middle English ton, tone, from Latin tonus (“sound, tone”) (possibly through Old French ton), from Ancient Greek τόνος (tónos, “strain, tension, pitch”), from τείνω (teínō, “to stretch”). Doublet of tune, ton, tonos, and tonus.
Inflected forms:
form: tones
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: tones
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: toning
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: toned
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: toned
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: A specific pitch.
pos: noun
gloss: (in the diatonic scale) An interval of a major second.
pos: noun
gloss: (in a Gregorian chant) A recitational melody.
pos: noun
gloss: The character of a sound, especially the timbre of an instrument or voice.
pos: noun
gloss: The pitch of a word's sound that distinguishes a difference in meaning, as for example in Chinese.
pos: noun
gloss: A whining style of speaking; a kind of mournful or artificial strain of voice; an affected speaking with a measured rhythm and a regular rise and fall of the voice.
pos: noun
tags: dated
examples: Children often read with a tone.
gloss: The manner in which speech or writing is expressed, especially the aspects of diction (word choice), connotation, emotiveness, and register.
pos: noun
examples: Their tone was dissatisfied, almost menacing.
gloss: State of mind; temper; mood.
pos: noun
tags: obsolete
examples: c. 1714 (undated), Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke, letter to Alexander Pope
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.
gloss: The shade or quality of a colour.
pos: noun
examples: We make crude visual distinctions and effectively meaningless categorizations based on average skin tones, such as black or white.
gloss: The favourable effect of a picture produced by the combination of light and shade, or of colours.
pos: noun
examples: This picture has tone.
gloss: The definition and firmness of a muscle or organ; see also: tonus.
pos: noun
gloss: The state of a living body or of any of its organs or parts in which the functions are healthy and performed with due vigor.
pos: noun
gloss: Normal tension or responsiveness to stimuli.
pos: noun
gloss: a gun
pos: noun
tags: slang
examples: But nigga don't step wrong, cuz 8ball keep a tone
M.A.C.T.D.O.G got the tone so hoe you know it's on
Got the tone to ya head yo life flashing right front your eyes
gloss: The general character, atmosphere, mood, or vibe (of a situation, place, etc.).
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
examples: Her rousing speech gave an upbeat tone to the rest of the evening.
Mr O'Brien confirmed the warning from the council was based on the fact that the structure the mural was painted on was not a temporary one and on the claim that it changes the tone of the street and impacts on the area.
Manuel expects that once 2 St. Clair West is done it will change the tone of the neighbourhood.
"What struck me most was not necessarily what was said but ... the tone of the room, ... the fear and anxiety that people have for their family members who are currently in the grip of addiction," Green said.
gloss: The quality of being respectable or admirable.
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
examples: "I am going to raise the tone of the business. That's wot I want you for. To raise the tone of the business."
The teaching we have had of late has lowered the tone of Christianity, as the remarks by the two gentlemen who preceded me will attest; and, instead of producing stalwart manhood, it has generated a brood of mountebanks. Give us a pure Gospel or a vacant pulpit!
But Mr Fagan said the tone of the street was brought down by the presence of people he termed "the Gatwickians" — residents of a rooming house called the Gatwick Private Hotel.
But for anyone hoping that what proved to be a brief two-way female Tory leadership race might have raised the tone of British politics—currently at an all-time low after the vicious backroom machinations of Brexit referendum—the news wasn't promising.
That story is replicated wherever there is a brightly decorated house and a neighbour who cares about the tone of the street.
gloss: to give a particular tone to
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: to change the colour of
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: to make (something) firmer
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: to utter with an affected tone.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
Related words: atonal
diatonic
intonation
intone
monotone
ringtone
tonal
tonality
tone-deaf
tone-deafness
toneme
tonic
tonicity
tune
Derived words: allotone
basitony
checked tone
combination tone
comfort tone
contour tone
demitone
departing tone
dialling tone
dial tone
ditone
downtone
dual tone multi-frequency
duotone
earth tone
eigentone
engaged tone
entering tone
equitone
escape tone
falling tone
flexatone
floating tone
fuzz tone
fuzztone
gammatone
goldtone
halftone
half-tone
half tone
hemitonic
intertone
jewel tone
leading tone
level tone
meantone
microtone
middletone
midtone
mistone
mosstone
multitone
muscle tone
neighbor tone
neutral tone
non-harmonic tone
oblique tone
overtone
paratone
passing tone
pentatone
polytone
quadtone
quarter tone
quarter-tone
realtone
reorder tone
retone
ring tone
rising tone
room tone
ru tone
screentone
semitone
serotonin
sesquitone
set the tone
Shepard tone
sidetone
silvertone
skintone
skin tone
subtone
Tartini tone
tendency tone
tonable
tonearm
tone arm
tonebar
tone bar
tone-bearing unit
tone cluster
tone color
tone-deafly
tone dialing
tone dialling
tone hole
tone indicator
toneless
tonelike
tone mapping
tone mark
tone meeting
tone number
tone of voice
tonepad
tone painting
tone poem
tone police
tone policing
tone sandhi
tone scale
tone tag
tone terracing
tonewheel
tonewood
tonification
tonify
tonology
tonous
touchtone
touch-tone
touch-tone dialing
touch-tone dialling
tri-tone
tritone
truetone
twelve-tone
twelve-tone technique
two-tone
undertone
video dial tone
whole-tone scale
wolf tone
betone
toned
tone down
tone in
toner
tone up
tone with
tony
toney
Translations: