tone

A2 Topic:People & Society

US /ˈtoʊ̯n/ UK /ˈtəʊn/ See IPA manual

Freq #2830

Meanings

1

noun
The quality of a person's voice that shows how they feel.

She spoke to me in a friendly tone.
2

noun
The general mood or attitude of a piece of writing or speech.

The tone of the article was sharply critical.
3

noun
The particular quality or character of a sound, especially in music.

Your guitar has a really warm tone.
4

verb
To make muscles firmer and stronger through exercise.

These exercises will help tone your arms.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the quality of a person's... tone of voice

3 noun · the particular quality or... timbre

4 verb · to make muscles firmer and... strengthentone up

Word family

Forms tonedtonestoning

Derived forms allotonebetonedemitoneditonedowntoneduotoneeigentoneflexatonefuzztonegammatonegoldtonehalf-tone

Related forms atonaldiatonicintonation intone monotoneringtonetonaltonalitytone-deaftone-deafnesstonemetonic

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

tone arm
the movable arm on a record player that holds the cartridge and stylus

Noun + noun

Etymology

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

*ten- Proto-Indo-European ton Middle English tonus Latin τόνος Ancient Greek

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society Photography & Images Music Theory

External links

# tone

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A2
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** /ˈtoʊ̯n/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈtəʊn/
**Frequency rank:** 2830

## Meanings
1. The quality of a person's voice that shows how they feel.
2. The general mood or attitude of a piece of writing or speech.
3. The particular quality or character of a sound, especially in music.
4. To make muscles firmer and stronger through exercise.

## Examples
- She spoke to me in a friendly tone.
- The tone of the article was sharply critical.
- Your guitar has a really warm tone.
- These exercises will help tone your arms.

## Derived Forms
- allotone
- betone
- demitone
- ditone
- downtone
- duotone
- eigentone
- flexatone
- fuzztone
- gammatone
- goldtone
- half-tone

## Related Forms
- atonal
- diatonic
- intonation
- intone
- monotone
- ringtone
- tonal
- tonality
- tone-deaf
- tone-deafness
- toneme
- tonic

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *ten-
- Root: ton
- Root: tonus
- Root: τόνος

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

## AI Etymology
Tone is from Middle English ton, tone, from Latin tonus (“sound, tone”) (possibly through Old French ton), from Ancient Greek τόνος (tónos, “strain, tension, pitch”), from τείνω (teínō, “to stretch”). Doublet of tune, ton, tonos, and tonus. The historical line also includes Proto-Indo-European *ten-, Middle English ton, Latin tonus, Old French ton, Ancient Greek τόνος. In present-day use, it can mean the quality of a person's voice that shows how they feel, or the general mood or attitude of a piece of writing or speech.

## Topics
- People & Society
- Photography & Images
- Music Theory

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