Associations to the word «Tone»

TONE, noun. (music) A specific pitch.

TONE, noun. (music) (in the diatonic scale) An interval of a major second.

TONE, noun. (music) (in a Gregorian chant) A recitational melody.

TONE, noun. The character of a sound, especially the timbre of an instrument or voice.

TONE, noun. General character, mood, or trend.

TONE, noun. (linguistics) The pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning, for example in Chinese.

TONE, noun. (dated) 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.

TONE, noun. (literature) The manner in which speech or writing is expressed.

TONE, noun. (obsolete) State of mind; temper; mood.

TONE, noun. The shade or quality of a colour.

TONE, noun. The favourable effect of a picture produced by the combination of light and shade, or of colours.

TONE, noun. The definition and firmness of a muscle or organ. see also: tonus

TONE, noun. (biology) 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.

TONE, noun. (biology) Normal tension or responsiveness to stimuli.

TONE, verb. (transitive) to give a particular tone to

TONE, verb. (transitive) to change the colour of

TONE, verb. (transitive) to make (something) firmer

TONE, verb. (intransitive) to harmonize, especially in colour

TONE, verb. (transitive) To utter with an affected tone.

TONE, pronoun. (now dialectal) The one (of two).

TONE ARM, noun. A light, balanced arm that holds the pickup cartridge on a record player

TONE ARMS, noun. Plural of tone arm

TONE DIALING, noun. A system of telephone dialing in which each digit is transmitted as a burst of a single audio frequency

TONE DIALLING, noun. (British) Alternative spelling of tone dialing

TONE DOWN, verb. (idiomatic) To relax; to make quieter or less obtrusive; to make milder.

TONE DOWN, verb. To moderate or relax; to diminish or weaken the striking characteristics of; to soften.

TONE DOWN, verb. To make a television program, piece of writing, etc. less offensive and so more suitable for a family audience.

TONE MARK, noun. (linguistics) A symbol used to indicate tones in tonal languages.

TONE MARKS, noun. Plural of tone mark

TONE NUMBER, noun. A number allocated to a syllable in various transliteration systems such as Hanyu Pinyin indicating the tone in which it is pronounced.

TONE NUMBERS, noun. Plural of tone number

TONE OF VOICE, noun. The way someone speaks, as characterised by tone, pitch, speed, rhythm, melody, accent, etc.

TONE POEM, noun. (music) A piece of symphonic music which, like a poem, has a narrative or descriptive theme

TONE POEMS, noun. Plural of tone poem

TONE SANDHI, noun. (linguistics) change of tone in tonal languages when some tones come together

TONE SCALE, noun. (Scientology) A subjective appraisal of a person's spiritual aliveness, usually given by an auditor, ranging from 'total failure' to 'serenity of beingness'.

TONE TERRACING, noun. (phonetics) A form of downdrift in which the high or mid tones, but not the low tone, shift downward in pitch after certain other tones. The result is that a tone may be realized at a certain pitch over a short stretch of speech, shifts downward and then continues at its new level, then shifts downward again, until the end of the prosodic contour is reached, at which point the pitch resets.

TONE UP, verb. To cause to give a higher tone or sound; to give a higher tone to; to make more intense; to heighten; to strengthen.

TONE UP, verb. To firm and strengthen the muscles of the body by regular exercise.

TONE, noun. The quality of a person's voice; "he began in a conversational tone"; "he spoke in a nervous tone of voice".

TONE, noun. (linguistics) a pitch or change in pitch of the voice that serves to distinguish words in tonal languages; "the Beijing dialect uses four tones".

TONE, noun. (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".

TONE, noun. 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".

TONE, noun. A quality of a given color that differs slightly from another color; "after several trials he mixed the shade of pink that she wanted".

TONE, noun. A notation representing the pitch and duration of a musical sound; "the singer held the note too long".

TONE, noun. A steady sound without overtones; "they tested his hearing with pure tones of different frequencies".

TONE, noun. The elastic tension of living muscles, arteries, etc. that facilitate response to stimuli; "the doctor tested my tonicity".

TONE, noun. A musical interval of two semitones.

TONE, noun. 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".

TONE, verb. Utter monotonously and repetitively and rhythmically; "The students chanted the same slogan over and over again".

TONE, verb. Vary the pitch of one's speech.

TONE, verb. Change the color or tone of; "tone a negative".

TONE, verb. Change to a color image; "tone a photographic image".

TONE, verb. Give a healthy elasticity to; "Let's tone our muscles".