Refine this word faster

Stronger alternatives Opposite tone Use in context Cross-language nuance

Editorial Guides For "tone"

Professional Email Tone: Sound Clear, Polite, and Decisive

Practical phrase swaps to improve clarity and reduce friction in workplace emails.

De-escalation Language for Difficult Conversations

Use wording that lowers tension while preserving boundaries and forward progress.

Brand Voice Consistency: Keep Tone Unified Across Pages

Practical framework to keep product, marketing, and support copy aligned.

Related Topic Clusters

Professional Email and Tone Control

Phrase libraries for clearer, faster, and lower-friction professional communication.

Copyediting and Proofreading Checklists

Word-level checks for cleaner drafts, fewer errors, and faster QA passes.

Tone

//toʊn// name, noun, pron, verb, slang

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A male given name, a short form of Anthony/Antony
  2. 2
    A river in Somerset, England, which flows into the River Parrett.
Noun
  1. 1
    A specific pitch.
  2. 2
    a quality of a given color that differs slightly from another color wordnet
  3. 3
    (in the diatonic scale) An interval of a major second.
  4. 4
    (linguistics) a pitch or change in pitch of the voice that serves to distinguish words in tonal languages wordnet
  5. 5
    (in a Gregorian chant) A recitational melody.
Show 21 more definitions
  1. 6
    (music) the distinctive property of a complex sound (a voice or noise or musical sound) wordnet
  2. 7
    The character of a sound, especially the timbre of an instrument or voice.
  3. 8
    the quality of something (an act or a piece of writing) that reveals the attitudes and presuppositions of the author wordnet
  4. 9
    The pitch of a word's sound that distinguishes a difference in meaning, as for example in Chinese.
  5. 10
    a steady sound without overtones wordnet
  6. 11
    A whining style of speaking; a kind of mournful or artificial strain of voice; an affected speaking with a measured rhythm and a regular rise and fall of the voice. dated

    "Children often read with a tone."

  7. 12
    a musical interval of two semitones wordnet
  8. 13
    The manner in which speech or writing is expressed, especially the aspects of diction (word choice), connotation, emotiveness, and register.

    "Their tone was dissatisfied, almost menacing."

  9. 14
    a notation representing the pitch and duration of a musical sound wordnet
  10. 15
    State of mind; temper; mood. obsolete

    "c. 1714 (undated), Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke, letter to Alexander Pope The strange situation I am in and the melancholy state of public affairs, […] drag the mind down […] from a philosophical tone or temper, to the drudgery of private and public business."

  11. 16
    the quality of a person's voice wordnet
  12. 17
    The shade or quality of a colour.

    "We make crude visual distinctions and effectively meaningless categorizations based on average skin tones, such as black or white."

  13. 18
    the general atmosphere of a place or situation and the effect that it has on people wordnet
  14. 19
    The favourable effect of a picture produced by the combination of light and shade, or of colours.

    "This picture has tone."

  15. 20
    the elastic tension of living muscles, arteries, etc. that facilitate response to stimuli wordnet
  16. 21
    The definition and firmness of a muscle or organ; see also: tonus.
  17. 22
    The state of a living body or of any of its organs or parts in which the functions are healthy and performed with due vigor.
  18. 23
    Normal tension or responsiveness to stimuli.
  19. 24
    a gun slang

    "But nigga don't step wrong, cuz 8ball keep a tone"

  20. 25
    The general character, atmosphere, mood, or vibe (of a situation, place, etc.). figuratively

    "Her rousing speech gave an upbeat tone to the rest of the evening."

  21. 26
    The quality of being respectable or admirable. figuratively

    ""I am going to raise the tone of the business. That's wot I want you for. To raise the tone of the business.""

Pronoun
  1. 1
    the one (of two) dialectal
Verb
  1. 1
    to give a particular tone to transitive
  2. 2
    give a healthy elasticity to wordnet
  3. 3
    to change the colour of transitive
  4. 4
    change to a color image wordnet
  5. 5
    to make (something) firmer transitive
Show 4 more definitions
  1. 6
    change the color or tone of wordnet
  2. 7
    to utter with an affected tone. transitive
  3. 8
    vary the pitch of one's speech wordnet
  4. 9
    utter monotonously and repetitively and rhythmically wordnet

Etymology

Etymology 1

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, “I stretch”). Doublet of tune, ton, tonos, and tonus.

Etymology 2

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, “I stretch”). Doublet of tune, ton, tonos, and tonus.

Etymology 3

From Middle English tone, ton, toon, from the incorrect division of thet one (“the/that one”). Compare Scots tane in the tane; see also tother.

See also for "tone"

Synonyms Antonyms Rhymes Sentences Translate Word Type Pronunciation Word Forms

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciation

Mini challenge

Unscramble this word: tone