tone
EnglishEdit
Etymology 1Edit
Borrowed from Latin tonus (“sound, tone”) (or through Old French ton[1]), from Ancient Greek τόνος (tónos, “strain, tension, pitch”), from τείνω (teínō, “I stretch”). Doublet of tune, ton, and tonus.
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
tone (plural tones)
- (music) A specific pitch.
- (music) (in the diatonic scale) An interval of a major second.
- (music) (in a Gregorian chant) A recitational melody.
- The character of a sound, especially the timbre of an instrument or voice.
- General character, mood, or trend.
- Her rousing speech gave an upbeat tone to the rest of the evening.
- (linguistics) The pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning, for example in Chinese.
- (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.
- Children often read with a tone.
- (literature) The manner in which speech or writing is expressed.
- W. C. Bryant
- Their tone was dissatisfied, almost menacing.
- W. C. Bryant
- (obsolete) State of mind; temper; mood.
- Bolingbroke
- The strange situation I am in and the melancholy state of public affairs, […] drag the mind down […] from a philosophical tone or temper, to the drudgery of private and public business.
- Bolingbroke
- The shade or quality of a colour.
- 2017, Adam Rutherford, A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived, The Experiment, →ISBN, page 81:
- We make crude visual distinctions and effectively meaningless categorizations based on average skin tones, such as black or white.
- The favourable effect of a picture produced by the combination of light and shade, or of colours.
- This picture has tone.
- The definition and firmness of a muscle or organ. see also: tonus
- (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.
- (biology) Normal tension or responsiveness to stimuli.
SynonymsEdit
- (an interval of a major second): whole tone
Derived termsEdit
Derived terms
Related termsEdit
Related terms
TranslationsEdit
specific pitch, quality and duration; a note
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interval of a major second
character of a sound, especially the timbre of an instrument or voice
pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
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manner in which speech or writing is expressed
shade or quality of a colour
firmness of a muscle or organ
sheets of sticky plastic with dots printed on them used to create comic books
VerbEdit
tone (third-person singular simple present tones, present participle toning, simple past and past participle toned)
- (transitive) to give a particular tone to
- (transitive) to change the colour of
- (transitive) to make (something) firmer
- (intransitive) to harmonize, especially in colour
- (transitive) to utter with an affected tone.
SynonymsEdit
- (give a particular tone to):
- (change the colour of): color/colour, dye, paint, tint
- (make firmer): firm, firm up, tone up
- (harmonize): harmonise/harmonize
- (utter with an affected tone):
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
change the colour of
harmonize, especially in colour
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Etymology 2Edit
From Middle English tone, ton, toon, from the incorrect division of thet one (“the/that one”). Compare Scots tane in the tane; see also tother.
PronounEdit
tone
- (now dialectal) The one (of two).
- 1485 July 31, Thomas Malory, “(please specify the chapter)”, in [Le Morte Darthur], (please specify the book number), [London]: […] [by William Caxton], OCLC 71490786; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: Published by David Nutt, […], 1889, OCLC 890162034:, Bk.X, Ch.lxiij:
- So wythin the thirde day, there cam to the cité thes two brethirne: the tone hyght Sir Helyus and the other hyght Helake
Further readingEdit
- tone in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- tone in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
ReferencesEdit
AnagramsEdit
AfrikaansEdit
DanishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Old Norse tóni, from Latin tonus (“sound, tone”), from Ancient Greek τόνος (tónos, “strain, tension, pitch”), from τείνω (teínō, “I stretch”).
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
tone c (singular definite tonen, plural indefinite toner)
DeclensionEdit
Declension of tone
VerbEdit
tone (imperative ton, infinitive at tone, present tense toner, past tense tonede, perfect tense har tonet)
ReferencesEdit
- “tone” in Den Danske Ordbog
DutchEdit
LatinEdit
Norwegian BokmålEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Old Norse tóni, from Latin tonus (“sound, tone”), from Ancient Greek τόνος (tónos, “strain, tension, pitch”), from τείνω (teínō, “I stretch”).
NounEdit
tone m (definite singular tonen, indefinite plural toner, definite plural tonene)
- a tone (sound, colour etc.)
Derived termsEdit
ReferencesEdit
- “tone” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Norwegian NynorskEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Old Norse tóni, from Latin tonus (“sound, tone”), from Ancient Greek τόνος (tónos, “strain, tension, pitch”), from τείνω (teínō, “I stretch”).
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
tone m (definite singular tonen, indefinite plural tonar, definite plural tonane)
- a tone (sound, colour etc.)
Derived termsEdit
ReferencesEdit
- “tone” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.