- (music) A specific pitch.
- "What's your favourite tone?" asked the teacher of music.
- The character of a sound, especially the timbre of an instrument or voice.
- He needed more practice to get proper control of the tone on his oboe.
- General character, mood, or trend.
- I don't like the tone of your tenant.
- (linguistics) The pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning, for example in Chinese.
- The manner in which speech or writing is expressed.
- The quality or shade of a colour.
- She was surprised at how many tones of sage green there were in the paint shop.
- The definition and firmness of a muscle or organ.
- (biology) 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.
- (biology) Normal tension or responsiveness to stimuli.
- (transitive) To give a particular tone to (something).
- (transitive) To change the colour of (something).
- The landlord asked the painter to tone the border a bit.
- (transitive) To make (something) firmer.
- He found doing more sit ups helped to tone his muscles.