tone

the quality of a person''s voice

• “he began in a conversational tone”
• “he spoke in a nervous tone of voice”

(linguistics) a pitch or change in pitch of the voice that serves to distinguish words in tonal languages

• “the Beijing dialect uses four tones”

(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”

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”

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”

a notation representing the pitch and duration of a musical sound

• “the singer held the note too long”

a steady sound without overtones

• “they tested his hearing with pure tones of different frequencies”

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

• “the doctor tested my tonicity”

a musical interval of two semitones

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”

utter monotonously and repetitively and rhythmically

• “The students chanted the same slogan over and over again”

of one''s speech, varying the pitch

change the color or tone of

• “tone a negative”

change to a color image

• “tone a photographic image”

give a healthy elasticity to

• “Let”