tone

tone[ təun ]

• n.
  • the quality of a person's voice

    "he began in a conversational tone"; "he spoke in a nervous tone of voice"

    同义词：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 muffled tones of the broken bell summoned them to meet"

    同义词：timbretimberquality

  • the general atmosphere of a place or situation and the effect that it has on people

    "a clergyman improved the tone of the meeting"

    同义词：spiritfeelfeelingflavorflavourlooksmell

  • a quality of a given color that differs slightly from a primary color

    同义词：shadetinttincture

  • a notation representing the pitch and duration of a musical sound

    同义词：notemusical note

  • a steady sound without overtones

    "they tested his hearing with pure tones of different frequencies"

    同义词：pure tone

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

    同义词：tonicitytonus

  • a musical interval of two semitones

    同义词：whole tonestepwhole step

  • 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.
  • utter monotonously and repetitively and rhythmically

    同义词：chantintone

  • vary the pitch of one's speech

    同义词：inflectmodulate

  • change the color or tone of

    "tone a negative"

  • change to a color image

    "tone a photographic image"

  • give a healthy elasticity to

    "Let's tone our muscles"

    同义词：tone upstrengthen