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"
(linguistics) a pitch or change in pitch of the voice that serves to distinguish words in tonal languages; "the Beijing dialect uses four tones"
The poet's or persona's attitude in style or expression toward the subject, e g , loving, ironic, bitter, pitying, fanciful, solemn, etc Tone can also refer to the overall mood of the poem itself, in the sense of a pervading atmosphere intended to influence the readers' emotional response and foster expectations of the conclusion Sidelight: In spoken language we recognize tone by inflections of the voice and by the demeanor of the speaker; in poetry, tone is conveyed through the use of connotation, diction, figures of speech, rhythm and other elements of poetic construction (Compare Content, Form, Motif, Style, Texture)
Sound, or the character of a sound, or a sound considered as of this or that character; as, a low, high, loud, grave, acute, sweet, or harsh tone
To bring, as a print, to a certain required shade of color, as by chemical treatment
(linguistics) a pitch or change in pitch of the voice that serves to distinguish words in tonal languages; "the Beijing dialect uses four tones" 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" a steady sound without overtones; "they tested his hearing with pure tones of different frequencies" a musical interval of two semitones the quality of a person's voice; "he began in a conversational tone"; "he spoke in a nervous tone of voice" give a healthy elasticity to; "Let's tone our muscles" change to a color image; "tone a photographic image" change the color or tone of; "tone a negative" of one's speech, varying the pitch utter monotonously and repetitively and rhythmically; "The students chanted the same slogan over and over again