undertone
/ˈʌndə(ɹ)təʊn/
undertone noun: an auditory tone of low pitch or volume.
Noun
undertone (countable and uncountable, plural undertones)
- An auditory tone of low pitch or volume.
- Did he and his master converse? Watt had never heard them do so, as he surely would have done, if they had done so. In an undertone perhaps. Yes, perhaps they conversed in undertones, the master and the servant, in two undertones, the master's undertone, the servant's undertone.1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, [Paris]: Olympia Press, →OCLC
- They gathered soberly in the farthest recess of the ward and gossiped about him in malicious, offended undertones, rebelling against his presence as a ghastly imposition and resenting him malevolently for the nauseating truth of which he was bright reminder.1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Soldier in White”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 169
- An implicit message perceived subtly alongside, but not detracting noticeably from, the explicit message conveyed in or by a book, film, speech or similar (contrast with overtone); an undercurrent.
- This context colours the Heidebad incident in darker undertones.2026 June 27, Fatma Aydemir, “Do you really need to speak German to take a cooling dip? This row in Halle raises all manner of red flags”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
- Antonyms:
- overtone
- A pale colour, or one seen underneath another colour.
- A low state of the physical faculties.
- Sedentary occupations are likely to result in undertone, and this undertone not being relieved by physiological means, constipation is a probable outcome.1905, Medical Review, volumes 51-52, page 171
Verb
undertone (third-person singular simple present undertones, present participle undertoning, simple past and past participle undertoned)
- To accompany as an undertone.
- The Missionary's address rolled on in choppy Chinook, undertoned by a gentle voice from the back of the room which told Tanook in pure Indian words what he was to do.1941, Emily Carr, chapter 1, in Klee Wyck
- Undertoning the howling siren I was aware of a distant swish, like that of a hurricane’s forerunning wind through palm fronds.1951 January, Arthur Leo Zagat, chapter 7, in Fantastic Novels Magazine
- To say or speak in an undertone.
- Evan paid no attention to him, and answered none of his hasty undertoned questions.1861, George Meredith, Evan Harrington, Chapter 30, Part 1
- At first, when the net was being prepared, those children of the forest had merely stood by and looked on with curiosity. When Blondin and his men rowed out from the shore, letting the net drop off the stern of our boat as they went, they indulged in a few guesses and undertoned remarks.1887, R. M. Ballantyne, chapter 13, in The Big Otter
- To present as less important, noticeable or prominent.
- Men rarely make this mistake, their habitual blunder being to undertone everything, to make too light of Julia's new frock, and Johnnie's symptoms of measles, and the way they waste things down stairs.1866, {unattributed}, Littell's Living Age - Volume 88 - Page 427
- It’s hard enough to separate the geeks from the creeps at your average Anime con (it’s more of a Venn Diagram than an either/or, really). The task becomes even more difficult at Arisia, where the sexual undertones are … not particularly undertoned.2010, Maddy Myers, “Arisia 2010: the Sexiest of Sci-Fi Cons,” thephoenix.com, 26 January, 2010
- Synonyms:
- de-emphasize, downplay
undertone meaning in Urdu and Malayalam
undertone in Urdu
- دبا دبا لہجہ, دھیما لہجہ, ہلکا رنگ, مدھم
undertone in Malayalam
- മൃദുശബ്ദം, പതുക്കെയുള്ള സംസാരം, കുശുകുശുക്കൽ
Examples of undertone in a sentence
- “He handles that pallet like it was a mule,” McCoy undertoned, passing Mason.1984, Greg Bear, chapter 11, in Corona, Simon and Schuster, published 2000:
- “How come there’s never any birds in cemeteries?” Skelote undertoned.1999, Thomas Sullivan, chapter 35, in The Martyring, Crossroad Press, published 2015:
Synonyms of undertone
Antonyms
Forms of undertone
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | undertones |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | undertones |
| present participle | undertoning |
| past participle | undertoned |
| past | undertoned |
Origin of undertone
From under- + tone.
Questions about undertone
- What does undertone mean?
- Undertone means an auditory tone of low pitch or volume.
- What is undertone in Urdu?
- Undertone in Urdu is دبا دبا لہجہ, دھیما لہجہ, ہلکا رنگ. See Undertone meaning in Urdu.
- How do you use undertone in a sentence?
- “He handles that pallet like it was a mule,” McCoy undertoned, passing Mason.
- What part of speech is undertone?
- Undertone can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce undertone?
- Undertone is pronounced /ˈʌndə(ɹ)təʊn/.
- What is the plural of undertone?
- The plural of undertone is undertones.
Words near undertone in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: undertone (page history and authors); undertone (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); undertone (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-undertone.wav.
Cite this entry: “undertone.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/undertone. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.