Meaning of "tone" in the English dictionary

ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD TONE

From Latin tonus, from Greek tonos tension, tone, from teinein to stretch.

Etymology is the study of the origin of words and their changes in structure and significance.

PRONUNCIATION OF TONE

tone  [təʊn]

GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF TONE

Tone is a verb and can also act as a noun.

A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

The verb is the part of the sentence that is conjugated and expresses action and state of being.

See the conjugation of the verb tone in English.

WHAT DOES TONE MEAN IN ENGLISH?

Definition of tone in the English dictionary

The first definition of tone in the dictionary is sound with reference to quality, pitch, or volume. Other definition of tone is a sound resulting from periodic or regular vibrations, composed either of a simple sinusoidal waveform or of several such waveforms superimposed upon one main one. Tone is also an interval of a major second; whole tone.

CONJUGATION OF THE VERB TO TONE

PRESENT

Present

I tone

you tone

he/she/it tones

we tone

you tone

they tone

Present continuous

I am toning

you are toning

he/she/it is toning

we are toning

you are toning

they are toning

Present perfect

I have toned

you have toned

he/she/it has toned

we have toned

you have toned

they have toned

Present perfect continuous

I have been toning

you have been toning

he/she/it has been toning

we have been toning

you have been toning

they have been toning

Present tense is used to refer to circumstances that exist at the present time or over a period that includes the present time. The present perfect refers to past events, although it can be considered to denote primarily the resulting present situation rather than the events themselves.

PAST

Past

I toned

you toned

he/she/it toned

we toned

you toned

they toned

Past continuous

I was toning

you were toning

he/she/it was toning

we were toning

you were toning

they were toning

Past perfect

I had toned

you had toned

he/she/it had toned

we had toned

you had toned

they had toned

Past perfect continuous

I had been toning

you had been toning

he/she/it had been toning

we had been toning

you had been toning

they had been toning

Past tense forms express circumstances existing at some time in the past,

FUTURE

Future

I will tone

you will tone

he/she/it will tone

we will tone

you will tone

they will tone

Future continuous

I will be toning

you will be toning

he/she/it will be toning

we will be toning

you will be toning

they will be toning

Future perfect

I will have toned

you will have toned

he/she/it will have toned

we will have toned

you will have toned

they will have toned

Future perfect continuous

I will have been toning

you will have been toning

he/she/it will have been toning

we will have been toning

you will have been toning

they will have been toning

The future is used to express circumstances that will occur at a later time.

CONDITIONAL

Conditional

I would tone

you would tone

he/she/it would tone

we would tone

you would tone

they would tone

Conditional continuous

I would be toning

you would be toning

he/she/it would be toning

we would be toning

you would be toning

they would be toning

Conditional perfect

I would have tone

you would have tone

he/she/it would have tone

we would have tone

you would have tone

they would have tone

Conditional perfect continuous

I would have been toning

you would have been toning

he/she/it would have been toning

we would have been toning

you would have been toning

they would have been toning

Conditional or "future-in-the-past" tense refers to hypothetical or possible actions.

IMPERATIVE

Imperative

you tone
we let´s tone
you tone

The imperative is used to form commands or requests.

NONFINITE VERB FORMS

Infinitive

to tone

Past participle

toned

Present Participle

toning

Infinitive shows the action beyond temporal perspective. The present participle or gerund shows the action during the session. The past participle shows the action after completion.

SYNONYMS OF «TONE»

The following words have a similar or identical meaning as «tone» and belong to the same grammatical category.

synonyms of tone

accent · air · approach · aspect · attitude · beep · blend · cast · character · colour · drift · effect · emphasis · feel · force · frame · grain · harmonize · hue · inflection · intonation · manner · match · modulation · mood · note · pitch · quality · shade · spirit · strength · stress · style · suit · temper · tenor · timbre · tinge · tint · tonality · vein · volume

TRANSLATION OF TONE

Find out the translation of tone to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.

The translations of tone from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «tone» in English.

• Translator English - Chinese: 音质
• Translator English - Spanish: tono
• English: tone
• Translator English - Hindi: स्वर
• Translator English - Arabic: نغمة
• Translator English - Russian: тон
• Translator English - Portuguese: tom
• Translator English - Bengali: স্বন
• Translator English - French: ton
• Translator English - Malay: Nada
• Translator English - German: Ton
• Translator English - Japanese: 口調
• Translator English - Korean: 어조
• Translator English - Javanese: Muni
• Translator English - Vietnamese: giai điệu
• Translator English - Tamil: தொனி
• Translator English - Marathi: टोन
• Translator English - Turkish: ton
• Translator English - Italian: tono
• Translator English - Polish: ton
• Translator English - Ukrainian: тон
• Translator English - Romanian: ton
• Translator English - Greek: τόνο
• Translator English - Afrikaans: toon
• Translator English - Swedish: ton
• Translator English - Norwegian: tone

10 QUOTES WITH «TONE»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word tone.

1

Henry Adams

The Indian Summer of life should be a little sunny and a little sad, like the season, and infinite in wealth and depth of tone, but never hustled.

2

Bruce Babbitt

Well, I actually wrote her a letter a couple of days ago congratulating her. The tone I tried to convey in the letter is, look, you are a part of a great American historical process.

3

Maria Canals Barrera

I can't live without a good scrub or concealer. Concealer could give you 8 hours sleep instantly. I also love lipstick, for everyday a berry tone that resembles the natural lip color.

4

Stokely Carmichael

There has been only a civil rights movement, whose tone of voice was adapted to an audience of liberal whites.

5

Lewis Carroll

'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less.'

6

Dan Castellaneta

I think the tone of the show has certainly changed over the years, because it's really, really hard to do something different when you have a show going on as long as this has.

7

Adelbert von Chamisso

When I spoke, I was listened to; and I was at a loss to know how I had so easily acquired the art of commanding attention, and giving the tone to the conversation.

8

Francis Chan

When I read the statements of Christ, there seems to be this urgency and intensity. I guess that's what I get out of it when I read the tone of the Scriptures, which is very different from the tone of our culture.

9

Eric Clapton

My original interests and intentions in guitar playing were primarily created on quality of tone, for instance, the way the instrument could be made to echo or simulate the human voice.

10

Emilia Clarke

My mother taught me to cleanse, tone, and moisturize twice a day, so I always do that - I could be partying or working late, but I'm never too tired to take care of my skin.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «TONE»

Discover the use of tone in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to tone and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.

Tone

This comprehensive textbook provides a clearly organized introduction to tone and tonal phonology.

Moira Yip, 2002

Is Lighter Better?: Skin-tone Discrimination Among Asian ...

Including numerous stories about and by people who have faced discrimination in their own lives, this book is an invaluable resource for people interested in colorism among Asian Americans."

Joanne L. Rondilla, Paul R. Spickard, 2007

Tone of Voice and Mind: The Connections Between Intonation, ...

Tone of Voice and Mind is a synthesis of findings from neurophysiology (how neurons produce subjective feeling), neuropsychology (how the human cerebral hemispheres undertake complementary information-processing), intonation studies (how ...

Norman D. Cook, 2002

The Phonology of Tone and Intonation

Provides an up-to-date survey of recent research into tone and intonation, and how they are integrated into our grammars.

Carlos Gussenhoven, 2004

Devices and Desires: A History of Contraceptives in America

From the 1873 Comstock Act to the groundbreaking inventions of today, a history of contraceptives reveals how they evolved from an illicit trade located in secret places and pornography outlets to one of the most legitimate businesses in ...

Andrea Tone, 2002

Sew Sunny Homestyle

Over fifty projects for everything from cushions to soft toys.

Tone Finnanger, 2009

Chinese Through Tone & Color

The well known story by Chinese linguist Zhao Yuanren -- Story of Shi Eating the Lions -- uses nothing but the sound ''shi". This book offers a new, intuitive method for more effectively mastering spoken Mandarin Chinese.

Nathan Dummitt, 2008

Twelve-tone Tonality

In this classic work, George Perle argues that the seemingly disparate styles of post-triadic music in fact share common structural elements.

George Perle, 1977

Crafting Tilda's Friends

"Create classic characters in wonderful Tolda style. Full size, easy to follow templates for stuffed figures and applique allow you to get started right away." - Taken from cover p.4.

Tone Finnanger, 2010

Tone Sandhi: Patterns across Chinese Dialects

The term tone sandhi refers to this tonal alternation. Chen examines tone sandhi phenomena in detail across a variety of Chinese dialects.

Matthew Y. Chen, 2000

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «TONE»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term tone is used in the context of the following news items.

LG Tone Active Bluetooth headset arrives tomorrow

LG has another Bluetooth headset for its LG Tone product lineup — this model is called the LG Tone Active, and as its name suggests, the headset is targeted at ... «SlashGear, Jul 15»

Watch Your Tone! Now IBM's Watson Can Detect Attitude In Your …

With Tone Analyzer, IBM is giving developers a way to embed automatic linguistic analysis in their applications, in a bid to improve the way we communicate ... «Fast Company, Jul 15»

Sonos announces limited Play:1 Tone edition, improves sound quality

​Sonos has announced a new speaker called the Play:1 Tone while introducing its latest 5.4 software, which also improves sound quality for all Play:1 owners. «CNET, Jul 15»

HMRC: 7.2 million phone calls last year went straight to a busy tone

More than one in 10 (11%) call attempts made last year went straight to a busy tone, with around 7.2 million call attempts ending in this way, the figures showed. «Telegraph.co.uk, Jun 15»

Woman told to tone down her 'relentlessly gay' garden

A woman has been told to tone down her “relentlessly gay” front garden because she lives in a “Christian neighbourhood” – but now she plans to gay up her ... «PinkNews, Jun 15»

Google's Tone Chrome Extension Lets You Share URLs By Sound

Google launched an experimental Chrome extension today that lets you share the URL from your current browser tab with anybody within earshot. Tone, which ... «TechCrunch, May 15»

Arrow: season 4 will be 'lighter in tone'

"[The show] will take a lighter tone. That's pretty much the only thing I say without spoiling it. We've been working for about a month now in the writers' room, ... «Den Of Geek, May 15»

At town hall, teacher urges Gov. Christie to tone it down

OLD BRIDGE, N.J. (AP) — A kindergarten teacher on Tuesday urged Gov. Chris Christie to tone down his combative style, warning the potential presidential ... «Yahoo News UK, Apr 15»

'Blue Tone' Wins $75K Santana Mile At Santa Anita

The victory, worth $47,400, increased Blue Tone's career earnings to $338,150, with five wins in 14 starts. The 6-year-old gelding was coming off a 12-length ... «CBS Local, Mar 15»

InStyle slammed for 'lightening' Kerry Washington's skin tone

Several fans expressed outrage over the actress' allegedly lightened skin tone and altered facial features after she released the image via Instagram on ... «Page Six, Feb 15»