tone sth down
— phrasal verb with tone /təʊn/
/toʊn/ verb [T] (also tone up)Definition
› to make something less forceful or offensive, usually a piece of writing or a speech: Some of the language in the original play has been toned down for the television version.Becoming and making less strongBecoming and making smaller or lessBecoming and making less strong
(Definition of tone sth down from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus
© Cambridge University Press)
Browse related topics
You are looking at an entry to do with Becoming and making smaller or less, but you might be interested in these topics from the Size and quantity topic area:
- Also, extra, and in addition
- Augmenting and supplementing
- Available and accessible
- Becoming bigger
- Big and quite big
- Enlarging and inflating
- Enormous
- Enough
- Extremely small
- General words for size and amount
- Increasing and intensifying
- Large in number or quantity
- Masses and large amounts of things
- Maximum and minimum
- Medium-sized
- Merely and barely
- Plenty and abundant
- Scarce, inadequate and not enough
- Small
- Small in number and quantity
- Some and quite
- Someone, anyone, no one or everyone
- Something, anything, nothing, and everything
- Things collected in lines or rings
- Things remaining
- Too much and unnecessary
- Unavailable and inaccessible
- Unlimited
- Words meaning small pieces and amounts
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Synonyms and related words:
- a nip (here) and a tuck (there) idiom
- absorb verb (TAKE IN)
- attenuate verb
- axe verb
- bite into sth phrasal verb
- boil sth down phrasal verb
- compress verb
- contraction noun (REDUCTION)
- let sth down phrasal verb (AIR)
- let-up noun
- lower verb (REDUCE)
- make a hole in sth idiom
- miniaturization noun
- scale sth down phrasal verb
- shave sth off sth phrasal verb
- shrivel verb
- slash verb
- slim sth down phrasal verb
- slip verb (VALUE)
- telescope verb
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