tonenoun
uk/təʊn/us/toʊn/tone noun (VOICE EXPRESSION)
B2 [ U ] a quality in the voice that expresses the speaker's feelings or thoughts, often towards the person being spoken to:
the quality of someone's voice:
[ U ] specialized phonetics a change in how high or low the voice is that can change the meaning of a word or sentence
More examples
- She tends to adopt a falsely cheerful tone when she's upset about something.
- His gentle introductory tone modulates into a football coach's pre-game pep talk.
- It's that patronizing tone of hers that I can't bear.
- "We're so pleased to meet you at last, " he said in a respectful tone of voice.
- When he spoke his tone was accusatory.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Ways of speaking
- accent
- accentuate
- aitch
- asperity
- BBC English
- breathe
- cut glass
- get your tongue around/round sth idiom
- intone
- lenis
- modulate
- monotone
- plummy
- pragmatics
- singsong
- soft-spoken
- sotto voce
- speech therapy
- spoken
- trip off the tongue idiom
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
tone noun (GENERAL MOOD)
C2 [ S ] the general mood or main qualities of something:
More examples
- I found myself irritated by the adulatory tone of her biography.
- Dale lowered the tone of the evening by telling a dirty joke.
- The tone of the meeting was very pessimistic.
- The tone of the letter was placatory.
- The tone of his poetry is restrained and unemotional.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Moods
- -humoured
- be in one of your moods idiom
- black mood
- eat
- frame
- have a strop on idiom
- humour
- mind
- sb's state/frame of mind idiom
- snit
- spirit
- strop
- suck
- sulky
- temper
- temperament
- temperature
- up and down idiom
- what's eating sb? idiom
- yourself
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tone noun (COLOUR)
[ C ] a form or degree of a colour:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Colour - general words
- chromatic
- color wheel
- colored
- colour
- colour wheel
- coloured
- coloured
- discolour
- high-visibility
- hue
- pigment
- pigmentation
- run
- shade
- spectral
- spectrum
- stain
- tie-dye
- tinge
- tone in
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tone noun (TIGHTNESS)
[ U ] the healthy tightness of the body, especially the muscles:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Animal physiology: fit & healthy
- agile
- amazon
- an apple a day keeps the doctor away idiom
- apple
- athleticism
- be (as) fit as a fiddle idiom
- be (as) right as rain idiom
- beach-ready
- bouncing
- clean
- fighting fit
- foot
- healthy
- iron man
- limber
- lithe
- muscle-bound
- pink
- sturdy
- virility
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tone noun (DIFFERENCE IN SOUND)
[ C ] mainly UK US usually whole step the largest difference in pitch between two notes that are next to each other in the western musical scale:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Technical music terms
- accidental
- adagio
- andante
- antiphonal
- arpeggio
- arr
- arrange
- cadence
- harmonic
- harmony
- key signature
- legato
- mike check
- motif
- timbre
- tremolo
- tuning
- twelve-tone
- twelve-tone scale
- unison
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tone noun (MUSICAL QUALITY)
[ C or U ] the quality of sound of a musical instrument or singing voice:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Technical music terms
- accidental
- adagio
- andante
- antiphonal
- arpeggio
- arr
- arrange
- cadence
- harmonic
- harmony
- key signature
- legato
- mike check
- motif
- timbre
- tremolo
- tuning
- twelve-tone
- twelve-tone scale
- unison
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tone noun (PHONE NOISE)
B2 [ C ] one of the continuous sounds that you hear on a phone that tell you if the other phone is ringing, if it is busy, etc.:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Communications - by telephone
- aeroplane mode
- airplane mode
- alarm call
- bell
- break
- break up
- call sb up
- cold-calling
- conference call
- connection
- cut
- give sb a buzz idiom
- hash
- hold
- put sb through
- put sth down 1
- telecommuting
- tinkle
- top-up card
- transfer
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toneverb [ T ]
uk/təʊn/us/toʊn/also tone upIf you tone a part of the body, you make it firmer and stronger, usually by doing physical exercise:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Exercising & training
- aerial yoga
- Anti-Gravity yoga
- barbell
- bench press
- benchpress
- bodybuilding
- calisthenics
- cardio
- cross-trainer
- cross-training
- crunch
- exercise
- firm sth up
- limber
- multigym
- Pilates
- t'ai chi
- train
- warm
- weight training
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