tone
     n 1: the quality of a person's voice; "he began in a
          conversational tone"; "he spoke in a nervous tone of
          voice" [syn: {tone of voice}]
     2: (linguistics) a pitch or change in pitch of the voice that
        serves to distinguish words in tonal languages; "the
        Beijing dialect uses four tones"
     3: (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" [syn: {timbre}, {timber}, {quality}]
     4: 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" [syn: {spirit}, {feel},
         {feeling}, {flavor}, {flavour}, {look}, {smell}]
     5: a quality of a given color that differs slightly from a
        primary color; "after several trials he mixed the shade of
        pink that she wanted" [syn: {shade}, {tint}, {tincture}]
     6: a notation representing the pitch and duration of a musical
        sound; "the singer held the note too long" [syn: {note}, {musical
        note}]
     7: a steady sound without overtones; "they tested his hearing
        with pure tones of different frequencies" [syn: {pure tone}]
     8: the elastic tension of living muscles, arteries, etc. that
        facilitate response to stimuli; "the doctor tested my
        tonicity" [syn: {tonicity}, {tonus}] [ant: {atonicity}]
     9: a musical interval of two semitones [syn: {whole tone}, {step},
         {whole step}]
     10: 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"
     v 1: utter monotonously and repetitively and rhythmically; "The
          students chanted the same slogan over and over again"
          [syn: {chant}, {intone}]
     2: of one's speech, varying the pitch [syn: {inflect}, {modulate}]
     3: change the color or tone of; "tone a negative"
     4: change to a color image; "tone a photographic image"
     5: give a healthy elasticity to; "Let's tone our muscles" [syn:
         {tone up}, {strengthen}]
Source: WordNet® 2.0