tone

How to use tone in a sentence. Example sentences and definitions for tone.

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Editorial note

It's simple enough, and have a "sounds right" tone to it.

Examples13

Definitions15

Parts of speech2

Quick take

the quality of a person's voice; "he began in a conversational tone"; "he spoke in a nervous tone of voice"

Meaning at a glance

The clearest senses and uses of tone gathered in one view.

noun

the quality of a person's voice; "he began in a conversational tone"; "he spoke in a nervous tone of voice"

noun

(linguistics) a pitch or change in pitch of the voice that serves to distinguish words in tonal languages; "the Beijing dialect uses four tones"

noun

(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"

Definitions

Core meanings and parts of speech for tone.

noun

the quality of a person's voice; "he began in a conversational tone"; "he spoke in a nervous tone of voice"

noun

(linguistics) a pitch or change in pitch of the voice that serves to distinguish words in tonal languages; "the Beijing dialect uses four tones"

noun

(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"

noun

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"

See also: spirit, feel, feeling, flavor, flavour, look, smell

noun

a quality of a given color that differs slightly from another color; "after several trials he mixed the shade of pink that she wanted"

noun

a notation representing the pitch and duration of a musical sound; "the singer held the note too long"

noun

a steady sound without overtones; "they tested his hearing with pure tones of different frequencies"

noun

the elastic tension of living muscles, arteries, etc. that facilitate response to stimuli; "the doctor tested my tonicity"

noun

a musical interval of two semitones

noun

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"

verb

utter monotonously and repetitively and rhythmically; "The students chanted the same slogan over and over again"

verb

vary the pitch of one's speech

verb

change the color or tone of; "tone a negative"

verb

change to a color image; "tone a photographic image"

verb

give a healthy elasticity to; "Let's tone our muscles"

Example sentences

It's simple enough, and have a "sounds right" tone to it.

I think it is unwise to send a letter with this tone to someone you've turned down.

At first, I disagreed with your tone and profanity.

They're unhappy with its actions, perhaps even livid, but it's always a tone of "Golly!

I honestly don't even care if the guy said, "I'd fork his repo" in that typical, suggestive tone-of-voice.

The general tone and specifically the mention of the founder's wife in this post gives a huge amount of credence to Julie's claims.

Ultimately, the tone was that the risk was too great compared with the operational gain- almost like the soldier was too valuable to put in harm's way.

The Globus Online grid ftp service web page intended for users adopts an overtly apologetic tone [1].

I not only appreciate what they are trying to do moving forward, but also the entirely good natured, reasonable tone of the whole message.

I thought my co-founder had signed up for them but I still felt it was unethical to post details about clients publicly and asked them to tone down the tweets.

The tone in this article is unbelievable.>The case raises questions over whether Craigslist is stifling innovation or simply protecting its dataThere is no question.

With all due respect, one thing that gets really tiresome on this board is the "OMG, this person is soo stupid because they don't know nearly as much as I do about this one particular topic" tone in this comment.

When I stayed after class to ask you questions I was too shy to ask in class, or to just discuss the subject material in greater depth, youd answer in a very short, annoyed tone, as if you had more important things to do.