tone

From Middle English ton, tone, from Latin tonus (“sound, tone”) (possibly through Old French ton[1]), from Ancient Greek τόνος (tónos, “strain, tension, pitch”), from τείνω (teínō, “I stretch”). Doublet of tune, ton, tonos, and tonus.

• (UK) enPR: tōn, IPA^(key): /təʊn/
• (US) enPR: tōn, IPA^(key): /toʊn/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊn

tone (plural tones)

1. (music) A specific pitch.
2. (music) (in the diatonic scale) An interval of a major second.
3. (music) (in a Gregorian chant) A recitational melody.
4. The character of a sound, especially the timbre of an instrument or voice.
5. (linguistics) The pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning, for example in Chinese.
6. (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.

7. (literature) The manner in which speech or writing is expressed.
   • 1850, William Cullen Bryant, Letters of a Traveller:

     Their tone was dissatisfied, almost menacing.

8. (obsolete) State of mind; temper; mood.
   • c. 1714 (undated), Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke, letter to Alexander Pope

     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.

9. 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.

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

    This picture has tone.

11. The definition and firmness of a muscle or organ; see also: tonus.
12. (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.
13. (biology) Normal tension or responsiveness to stimuli.
14. (African-American Vernacular, slang) a gun
    • 1993, “9 Little Millimeta Boys”, in 8Ball (lyrics), Comin' Out Hard:

      But nigga don't step wrong, cuz 8ball keep a tone

    • 1994, “Murda In Da 1st Degree”, in Princess Loko (lyrics), Ashes 2 Ashes, Dust 2 Dust:

      M.A.C.T.D.O.G got the tone so hoe you know it's on

    • 2002, “Mouth Write a Check”, in Project Pat (lyrics), Layin' da Smack Down:

      Got the tone to ya head yo life flashing right front your eyes

15. (figuratively)
    1. The general character, atmosphere, mood, or vibe (of a situation, place, etc.).

       Her rousing speech gave an upbeat tone to the rest of the evening.

       • 2016 July 25, Megan McDermott, “'Repeal the 8th' mural in Project Arts Centre in Temple Bar removed”, in Irish Times‎:

         Mr O'Brien confirmed the warning from the council was based on the fact that the structure the mural was painted on was not a temporary one and on the claim that it changes the tone of the street and impacts on the area.

       • 2016 December 30, Francine Kopun, “Sleepy Yonge and St. Clair gets a makeover”, in Toronto Star‎:

         Manuel expects that once 2 St. Clair West is done it will change the tone of the neighbourhood.

       • 2022 December 2, “Many solutions, some small, needed to tackle addictions in the N.W.T.”, in CBC‎:

         "What struck me most was not necessarily what was said but ... the tone of the room, ... the fear and anxiety that people have for their family members who are currently in the grip of addiction," Green said.

    2. (Chiefly in the form lower/raise the tone of something) The quality of being respectable or admirable.
       • 1904, May Sinclair, The Divine Fire, H. Holt, page 340:

         "I am going to raise the tone of the business. That's wot I want you for. To raise the tone of the business."

       • 1911, Charles Augustus Jenkens, The Bride's Return, Or, How Grand Avenue Church Came to Christ, C.H. Robinson, page 67:

         The teaching we have had of late has lowered the tone of Christianity, as the remarks by the two gentlemen who preceded me will attest; and, instead of producing stalwart manhood, it has generated a brood of mountebanks. Give us a pure Gospel or a vacant pulpit!

       • 2015 July 9, Simon Leo Brown, “St Kilda's Fitzroy Street left to rot says hotel owner”, in ABC News‎:

         But Mr Fagan said the tone of the street was brought down by the presence of people he termed "the Gatwickians" — residents of a rooming house called the Gatwick Private Hotel.

       • 2016 July 11, Leah McLaren, “After Brexit, a political revolution in the U.K.—for women”, in Maclean's‎:

         But for anyone hoping that what proved to be a brief two-way female Tory leadership race might have raised the tone of British politics—currently at an all-time low after the vicious backroom machinations of Brexit referendum—the news wasn't promising.

       • 2017 December 11, Michael Hann, “C7 bulbs or C9s? How Christmas lights became a nerdy obsession”, in The Guardian‎:

         That story is replicated wherever there is a brightly decorated house and a neighbour who cares about the tone of the street.

• (an interval of a major second): whole tone

tone (third-person singular simple present tones, present participle toning, simple past and past participle toned)

1. (transitive) to give a particular tone to
2. (transitive) to change the colour of
3. (transitive) to make (something) firmer
4. (transitive) to utter with an affected tone.

• (give a particular tone to):
• (change the colour of): color/colour, dye, paint, tint
• (make firmer): firm, firm up, tone up
• (utter with an affected tone):

• betone
• toned
• tone down
• tone in
• toner
• tone up
• tony, toney (affected tone)

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.

tone

1. (now dialectal) the one (of two)

• “tone”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “tone”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

• note, Teno, ETNO, ento-, toen, Note, Eton, teno-

tone

1. plural of toon

From Old Norse tóni, from Latin tonus (“sound, tone”), from Ancient Greek τόνος (tónos, “strain, tension, pitch”), from τείνω (teínō, “I stretch”).

• IPA^(key): /toːnə/, [ˈtˢoːnə]

tone c (singular definite tonen, plural indefinite toner)

1. tone
2. note

tone (imperative ton, infinitive at tone, present tense toner, past tense tonede, perfect tense har tonet)

1. to sound
2. to tone
3. to tint

• “tone” in Den Danske Ordbog

• Audio

  (file)

tone

1. (dated or formal) singular present subjunctive of tonen

• toen

tone

1. vocative singular of tonus

tone

1. the one (of two)
   • 1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “Capitulum lxiij”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book X, [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, →OCLC; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: David Nutt, […], 1889, →OCLC:

     So wythin the thirde day, there cam to the cité thes two brethirne: the tone hyght Sir Helyus and the other hyght Helake

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

From Old Norse tóni, from Latin tonus (“sound, tone”), from Ancient Greek τόνος (tónos, “strain, tension, pitch”), from τείνω (teínō, “I stretch”).

tone m (definite singular tonen, indefinite plural toner, definite plural tonene)

1. a tone (sound, colour etc.)

• halvtone

• “tone” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

• note, toen, -onet

From Old Norse tóni, from Latin tonus (“sound, tone”), from Ancient Greek τόνος (tónos, “strain, tension, pitch”), from τείνω (teínō, “I stretch”).

• IPA^(key): /²tuːnə/

tone m (definite singular tonen, indefinite plural tonar, definite plural tonane)

1. a tone (sound, colour etc.)

• halvtone
• tonekunst

• “tone” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• Audio (Kenya)

  (file)

tone (ma class, plural matone)

1. drop

Borrowed from English ton.

• IPA^(key): [ˈto.ne]
• Hyphenation: to‧ne

tone

1. ton

• tane

• R. Simona, editor (1986), Tokelau Dictionary‎, Auckland: Office of Tokelau Affairs, page 397