Meaning & Definition of Tone in English

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

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"

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

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"