Dictionary definition · tone
noun
- the quality of a person's voice"he began in a conversational tone"
- (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 general atmosphere of a place or situation and the effect that it has on people"the feel of the city excited him"
- a quality of a given color that differs slightly from another 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"
verb
- utter monotonously and repetitively and rhythmically"The students chanted the same slogan over and over again"
- vary the pitch of one's speech
- 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"
Source: Open English WordNet (CC BY 4.0).