definition of
tone

[1] #1 tone n. [tone of voice] the quality of a person's voice; "he began in a conversational tone"; "he spoke in a nervous tone of voice". wn

[2] #2 tone n. (linguistics) a pitch or change in pitch of the voice that serves to distinguish words in tonal languages; "the Beijing dialect uses four tones". wn

[3] #3 tone n. [timbre, timber, quality] (music) the distinctive property of a complex sound (a voice or noise or musical sound); "the timbre of her soprano was rich and lovely"; "the muffled tones of the broken bell summoned them to meet". wn

[4] #4 tone n. [spirit, feel, feeling, flavor, flavour, look, smell] the general atmosphere of a place or situation and the effect that it has on people; "the feel of the city excited him"; "a clergyman improved the tone of the meeting"; "it had the smell of treason". wn

[5] #5 tone n. [shade, tint, tincture] a quality of a given color that differs slightly from another color; "after several trials he mixed the shade of pink that she wanted". wn