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单词 tone
释义

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:

I tried to use a sympathetic tone of voice.
Don't speak to me in that tone of voice (= angrily), young lady!
It wasn't so much what she said that annoyed me - it was her tone.
tones [ plural ] literary

the quality of someone's voice:

She recounted the story to me in shocked tones (= in a shocked voice).
I could hear the low tones of my parents talking in the next room.
For more than half a century, the reassuring tones of BBC newscasters have informed British television viewers about world events.

[ 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:

Describing qualities of the human voice

tone noun (GENERAL MOOD)

C2 [ S ] the general mood or main qualities of something:

I didn't like the jokey tone of the article - I thought it was inappropriate.
Trust you to lower the tone of the evening by telling disgusting jokes, Mark!
Both candidates need to raise the tone of the campaign, as the electorate is tired of negative campaigning.
He was in a very bad mood when he arrived, and that set the tone for the whole meeting.

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:

warm tones of brown and yellow

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:

After you've had a baby you lose the muscle tone in your stomach.

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:

The interval from G to A is a whole tone.
Compare
semitone

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:

the beautiful rich tones of his tenor 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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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Describing qualities of sound

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.:

I've called him several times but I keep getting the engaged tone.
Please wait until you hear the dialling tone (= the sound that a phone makes when it is ready to be used).

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 up

If you tone a part of the body, you make it firmer and stronger, usually by doing physical exercise:

This is a good exercise for toning up the thighs.

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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Phrasal verb(s)

tone sth down
tone in
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更新时间:2025/1/24 1:04:48