All 11 Uses of
tone
in
Oryx and Crake
- A cross between pedagogue, soothsayer, and benevolent uncle — that should be his tone.
p. 7..4 (definition 1)tone = the general feeling, mood, or attitude of something
- "It's a killing all right," said Jimmy's father in a disgusted tone.
p. 18..9 (definition 1)
- He'd had a stringy ponytail stuck to the back of his balding head, and a faux-leather jacket; he'd worn a gold stud in his bumpy, porous old nose, and had pushed self-reliance and individualism and risk-taking in a hopeless tone, as if even he no longer believed in them.
p. 41..9 (definition 1)
- Do not overlook a plentiful source of nutrition that may be no farther away than your feet, says another voice, in an annoying, instructive tone he recognizes from a survival manual he once leafed through in someone else's bathroom.
p. 151..3 (definition 1)
- He wasn't including himself in this question: his tone was one of detached but not very strong interest, as if he were conducting a survey of people's less attractive personal habits, such as nose-picking.
p. 167..4 (definition 1) *tone = general feeling expressed
- "Now I'll be able to bring home the bacon," he concluded in what he hoped was a winsome but responsible tone.
p. 246..9 (definition 1)tone = the general feeling, mood, or attitude of something
- It was the tone of voice.
p. 309..9 (definition 1)
Uses with a very common or rare meaning:
- Their house this time was in the style of the Italian Renaissance, with an arched portico and a lot of glazed earth-tone tiles, and the indoor pool was bigger.†
p. 53..4 (definition 2)
- Not that a totally effective method had been found yet: the dozen or so ravaged hopefuls who had volunteered themselves as subjects, paying no fees but signing away their rights to sue, had come out looking like the Mould Creature from Outer Space — uneven in tone, greenish brown, and peeling in ragged strips.†
p. 55..9 (definition 2)
- His clothes were dark in tone, devoid of logos and visuals and written commentary — a no-name look.†
p. 72..2 (definition 2) *
- There's a man in the bathroom, sprawled on the earth-tone tiles, wearing — what's left of him — a pair of blue-and-maroon-striped pyjamas.†
p. 229..9 (definition 2)
Definitions:
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(1) (tone as in: the tone of the essay) the general feeling, mood, or attitude of something -- especially of something said or written
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(2) (meaning too common or rare to warrant focus) See a comprehensive dictionary for the many other common and less common meanings of tone including:
- a quality of sound, music, or voice
- a quality of color
- a quality of muscles seen after exercise, or the act of exercising to create that quality
- signals from a telephone
The expression "tone down", means to make something less forceful.