Dictionary
ton•ic
Pronunciation: (ton'ik), [key]—
n.
1. a medicine that invigorates or strengthens:
a tonic of sulphur and molasses.
2. anything invigorating physically, mentally, or morally:
His cheerful greeting was a real tonic.
3. See
quinine water.
4. Music.the first degree of the scale; the keynote.
5. Chiefly Eastern New Eng.soda pop.
6. Phonet.a tonic syllable or accent.
—
adj.
1. pertaining to, maintaining, increasing, or restoring the tone or health of the body or an organ, as a medicine.
2. invigorating physically, mentally, or morally.
3. Physiol., Pathol.
a. pertaining to tension, as of the muscles.
b. marked by continued muscular tension:
a tonic spasm.
4. using differences in tone or pitch to distinguish between words that are otherwise phonemically identical:
a tonic language.
5. pertaining to tone or accent in speech.
6. Phonet.(of a syllable) bearing the principal stress or accent, usually accompanied by a change in pitch.
7. Music.
a. of or pertaining to a tone or tones.
b. pertaining to or founded on the keynote, or first tone, of a musical scale:
a tonic chord. -tonic
a combining form occurring in adjectives that correspond to nouns ending in
-tonia: catatonic. Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
