Meaning & use
overtones
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Additional meanings, qualities, or implications suggested beyond the obvious or literal sense; also, higher musical tones that blend with a fundamental note.
See it in a sentence
His comment had political overtones that made the audience uneasy.
The violin's rich sound comes partly from the overtones above its main pitch.
A note on using this word
Used both figuratively, for implied meaning, and technically, in music and acoustics, for harmonics above a fundamental frequency.
Words with a similar meaning
undertonesimplications
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