Tonic
English Meaning
Of or relating to tones or sounds; specifically (Phon.), applied to, or distingshing, a speech sound made with tone unmixed and undimmed by obstruction, such sounds, namely, the vowels and diphthongs, being so called by Dr. James Rush (1833) " from their forming the purest and most plastic material of intonation."
- An agent, such as a medication, that restores or increases body tone.
- An invigorating, refreshing, or restorative agent or influence.
- See tonic water.
- Boston See soft drink.
- Music The first note of a diatonic scale; the keynote.
- Linguistics A tonic accent.
- Producing or stimulating physical, mental, or emotional vigor.
- Physiology Of, relating to, or producing tone or tonicity in muscles or tissue: a tonic reflex.
- Medicine Characterized by continuous tension or contraction of muscles: a tonic convulsion or spasm.
- Music Of or based on the keynote.
- Stressed, as a syllable; accented.