tone

noun

1》 a musical or vocal sound with reference to its pitch, quality, and strength.

    ↘a musical note, warble, or other sound used as a signal on a telephone or answering machine.

2》 a modulation of the voice expressing a feeling or mood.

3》 general character: trust her to lower the tone of the conversation.

4》 (also whole tone) a basic interval in classical Western music, equal to two semitones and separating, for example, the first and second notes of an ordinary scale; a major second.

5》 the particular quality of brightness, deepness, or hue of a colour.

    ↘the general effect of colour or of light and shade in a picture.

6》 Phonetics (in some languages, such as Chinese) a particular pitch pattern on a syllable used to make semantic distinctions.

    ↘(in some languages, such as English) intonation on a word or phrase used to add functional meaning.

7》 (also muscle tone) the normal level of firmness or slight contraction in a resting muscle.

verb

1》 (often tone something up) give greater strength or firmness to (the body or a muscle).

2》 (tone something down) make something less harsh in colour.

    ↘make something less extreme.

3》 (tone with) harmonize with in terms of colour.

4》 Photography give (a monochrome picture) an altered colour in finishing by means of a chemical solution.

Derivatives

-toned adjective

toneless adjective

tonelessly adverb

Origin

ME: from OFr. ton, from L. tonus, from Gk tonos 'tension, tone', from teinein 'to stretch'.