tone (
http://definr.com/tone)
n 1: the quality of a person's voice; "he began in a
conversational tone"; "he spoke in a nervous tone of
voice" [syn:
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: 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" [syn:
timbre,
timber,
quality]
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" [syn:
spirit,
feel,
feeling,
flavor,
flavour,
look,
smell]
5: 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" [syn:
shade,
tint,
tincture]
6: a notation representing the pitch and duration of a musical
sound; "the singer held the note too long" [syn:
note, {musical
note}]
7: a steady sound without overtones; "they tested his hearing
with pure tones of different frequencies" [syn:
pure tone]
8: the elastic tension of living muscles, arteries, etc. that
facilitate response to stimuli; "the doctor tested my
tonicity" [syn:
tonicity,
tonus] [ant:
atonicity]
9: a musical interval of two semitones [syn:
whole tone,
step,
whole step]
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"
v 1: change the color or tone of
2: change to a color image; of photography
3: give a healthy elasticity to; "Let's tone our muscles" [syn:
tone up,
strengthen]