Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Tonic |
TonicAdjective1. (physiology) of or relating to or producing normal tone or tonus in muscles or tissue; "a tonic reflex"; "tonic muscle contraction". 2. Employing variations in pitch to distinguish meanings of otherwise similar words; "Chinese is a tonal language". 3. Used of syllables; "a tonic syllables carries the main stress in a word". 4. Relating to or being the keynote of a major or minor scale; "tonic harmony". 5. Imparting vitality and energy; "the bracing mountain air". Noun1. Lime- or lemon-flavored carbonated water containing quinine. 2. A sweet drink containing carbonated water and flavoring; "in New England they call sodas tonics". 3. (music) the first note of a diatonic scale. 4. A medicine that strengthens and invigorates. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "tonic" was first used: 1649. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Health | 1. producing and restoring the normal tone. 2. characterized by continuous tension. 3. a term formerly used for a class of medicinal preparations believed to have the power of restoring normal tone to tissue. (references) |
Medicine | Possessing tone. Source: European Union. (references) |
| A drug which sustains, strengthens, or improves the functions of the body. Source: European Union. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
In western European tonal music of the 18th and 19th centuries, the tonic center was hierarchically the most important of all the different tone centers which a composer could use in a piece of music, with most pieces beginning and ending on the tonic, usually travelling to the dominant in between.
There can be major scales and minor scales. The tonic remains the same in these two different "modes," for a given key, wheareas scale degrees such as the third degree and the sixth degree are altered in the minor scale.
Howevever, this can be seen another way. Each Minor scale uses exactly the same set of notes (key signature) as some Major scale and vice-versa. The only difference is which of these notes is the tonic. For example, C major and A minor have no sharps or flats. Consequently, the tonic plays an important part in determining why music composed in a minor scale sounds different from music composed in a major scale.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Tonic (music)."
Synonyms: TonicSynonyms: accented (adj), bracing (adj), brisk (adj), energising (adj), energizing (adj), fresh (adj), refreshful (adj), refreshing (adj), tonal (adj), keynote (n), pop (n), quinine water (n), restorative (n), soda (n), soda pop (n), soda water (n), tonic water (n). (additional references) |
| Antonym: atonic (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Remedy | Anthelmintic; antidote, antifebrile, antipoison, counterpoison, antitoxin, antispasmodic; bracer, faith cure, placebo; helminthagogue, lithagogue, pick-meup, stimulant, tonic; vermifuge, prophylactic, corrective, restorative; sedative; palliative; febrifuge; alterant, alterative; specific; antiseptic, emetic, analgesic, pain-killer, antitussive, antiinflammatory, antibiotic, antiviral, antifungal, carminative; Nepenthe, Mithridate. |
Adjective: remedial; restorative; corrective, palliative, healing; sanatory, sanative; prophylactic, preventative, immunizing; salutiferous; (salutary); medical, medicinal; therapeutic, chirurgical, epulotic, paregoric, tonic, corroborant, analeptic, balsamic, anodyne, hypnotic, neurotic, narcotic, sedative, lenitive, demulcent, emollient; depuratory; detersive, detergent; abstersive, disinfectant, febrifugal, alterative; traumatic, vulnerary. | |
Salubrity | Adjective: salubrious, salutary, salutiferous; wholesome; healthy, healthful; sanitary, prophYlactic, benign, bracing, tonic, invigorating, good for, nutritious; hygeian, hygienic. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Well, gin and tonic sounds very nice to me. Arthur? (The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy; writing credit: Douglas Adams; John Lloyd) Tell Leo he's not God on the throne, he's just a cheap political boss with more hair tonic than brains. (Miller's Crossing; writing credit: Joel Coen ; Ethan Coen) | |
Lyrics | Tonic sounds might mighty good to me. (You Me and The Bottle Makes Three Tonight; performing artist: Big Daddy) Makin' love to his tonic and gin ("Piano Man"; performing artist: Billy Joel) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Hare Tonic (1945) Spring Tonic (1935) Air Tonic (1933) The Tonic (1928) Nerve Tonic (1924) | |
Song Titles | If You Could Only See (performing artist: Tonic) Eleanor Rigby (performing artist: Tonic Sol-Fa) Man of Constant Sorrow (performing artist: Tonic Sol-Fa) Na, Na, Na (performing artist: Tonic Sol-Fa) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books | |||
Music |
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High Tech |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Ka-Tar-No : the great tonic for catarrh and all catarrhal diseases. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |  | Brown's Iron Bitters : The Best Tonic. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |
 | The Ghost Story! : Dr. Jayne's Tonic Vermifuge. / R.W. Buss. The Major & Knapp Lith. Co. N.Y. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |  | Spring pastimes. Giving little Roy his tonic --. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Sir Walter Scott | Adversity is, to me at least, a tonic and a bracer. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Life, the Universe and Everything | Douglas Adams | Arthur shook his head and sat down. He looked up. "I thought you must be dead ..." he said simply. "So did I for a while," said Ford, "and then I decided I was a lemon for a couple of weeks. A kept myself amused all that time jumping in and out of a gin and tonic." |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Secondarily generalized seizures may take the form of atonic, tonic, or tonic-clonic attacks. (references) | |
The spasms are described as sudden, brief contractions of one or more muscle groups, and may be followed by a longer (less than 10 seconds) tonic phase. (references) | ||
These may subside immediately or persist as a tonic contraction of several seconds' duration and may occur many times a day. Eyelid closure may interfere with vision on the involved side. Hemifacial spasm may cause discomfort, cosmetic deformity, and social embarrassment. (references) | ||
Business | The company also leads the tonic segment with Minadex Tonic, a popular tonic brand for children, and owns Haliborange, the popular brand of Vitamin C tablets. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Tonic" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 98.93% of the time. "Tonic" is used about 375 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 98.93% | 371 | 14,642 |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 0.8% | 3 | 202,518 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.27% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 375 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "tonic" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Tonic | Last name | 130 | 67,098 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
Expressions using "tonic": gin and tonic ♦ hair tonic ♦ iron tonic ♦ tonic accent ♦ tonic alcoholic drink with a little bitter taste ♦ tonic chord ♦ tonic epilepsy ♦ tonic keynote ♦ Tonic Pupil ♦ tonic reflex ♦ tonic sol fa ♦ tonic solfa ♦ Tonic spasm ♦ tonic water ♦ tonic wine. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "tonic": Tonic-Clonic, tonic-clonic, tonic-submediant. | |
Ending with "tonic": gin-and-tonic. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
tonic | 422 | tonic music | 12 |
tonic lyrics | 86 | boston tonic | 11 |
tonic water | 69 | tonic if you could only see | 11 |
club night tonic | 66 | sss tonic | 9 |
gin and tonic | 46 | eye tonic | 8 |
tonic tab | 31 | lawn tonic | 8 |
gin tonic | 23 | new tonic york | 8 |
tonic clonic seizure | 21 | tonic pupil | 8 |
tonic trouble | 21 | gin recipe tonic | 7 |
tonic vodka | 19 | gum tonic tooth | 7 |
hair tonic | 19 | quinine tonic water | 7 |
liver tonic | 18 | club night tonic toronto | 6 |
fa sol tonic | 18 | tonic tv | 6 |
could if lyrics only see tonic | 17 | chinese tonic herb | 6 |
tonic guitar tab | 16 | nyc tonic | 6 |
club tonic | 15 | tonic clonic | 6 |
tonic band | 14 | eyes tonic | 6 |
geritol tonic | 14 | body tonic | 6 |
lyrics more tonic wanted | 13 | solfa tonic | 6 |
jerry baker tonic | 12 | herbal tonic | 5 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "tonic"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | tonik (cordial, pick me up, restorative), përtëritës (recuperative, regenerative, rejuvenescent), not çelës, gjallërues (bracing, crisp, enlivening, invigorating, vivifying), fuqidhënës, forcues (invigorative), bar përtëritës. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | منشط (activating, animating, animator, stimulating), مقو (bracing), مستحضر سائل لفروة الرأس, ماء الصودا, قراري متعلق بالقرار, توتري, دواء منشط. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | средство за усилване (corroborant), средство за ободряване, тонически (accentual), тоничен, основен тон (fundamental, key note, prime, root), основен (abecedarian, alkali, alkaline, basal, basic, bottom, capital, essential, fundamental, general, grade, gut, key, key note, main, organic, pivotal, polar, primal, prime, primitive, primordial, principal, radical, rudimental, rudimentary, substantial, thorough, thoroughgoing, ultimate, underlying), ободряващ (cheery, recreational, recreative), за усилване. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 補藥 , 補" , 补剂 (Tonical). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | tonizující, tonikum, posilující lék, posilující, přízvuèná slabika, napjatý (explosive, inflammable, taut, tense, tight, uptight). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | tonisk/tonika, tonisk, tonikum (tonic beverages), tonic (tonic water). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | tonisch, opwekkende drank. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | مقوی (Cordial, Hearty), نیروبخش , صداءی , اهنگی . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | vahvistava lääke. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | tonique (toner). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | tonisch, Stärkungsmittel (fortifier, restorative, tonics), Tonikum, stärkend (bodybuilding, bracing, invigorating, restorative, strengthening, tonicly). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | τονικόσ (accentual, tonal), τονωτικόσ (bracing, cordial, invigorative, restorative, stimulative), τονωτικό φάρμακο, τονωτικό (bracer, restorative, stimulant), δυναμωτικό. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | מי סו"" (soda), משיב פש (delightful, refreshing, restorative), מעו"" (buoyed up, encouraging, heartening, invigorating, propitious), מרע ן (brisk, cheering, refreshing), טו יק. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | tonik (tonic water). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | penguat (intensifier, reinforcement, something that reinforces, strengthener), obat penguat (corroborant), jamu (herbal medicine, nostrum). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | tonico (toner). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 育毛剤 , トキソプラズマ症 (18-wheeler, articulated lorry, galvanized sheet iron, latest fashion, pepper game, semi-trailer, Thomas Cup, toboggan, toffy, toggle, toggle switch, Tom, tomahawk, tomato, tomato ketchup, tomato puree, tommy gun, tomography, tom-tom, toner, tonic water, tony tie, top, top ball, top batter, top class, top condition, top down, top fashion, top gear, top group, top hat, top lady, top management, top news, top runner, top scene, top secret, top seller, top spin, top star, topaze, topcoat, top-domain, topic, topic news, topics, topless, top-level, top-note, topological, topology, topper, topping, toss, toss batting, tosser, totocalcio, toxoplasmosis, Toyota, tractor, tractor-trailer, tragedy, tragic, tragi-comedie, transistor glamour, trauma, triad, trial, trial and error, triangle, tri-athlete, triathlon, tribalism, tricycle, Trident, trijet, Tristar, truss, trust, try, zinc), 清涼剤 (refreshment, refrigerant), 主音 (keynote). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | トニック , しゅお" (keynote, the favor of one's master), せいりょうざい (refreshment, refrigerant), いくもうざい. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 강장 . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | thoannagh, reeneyder (busk, stiffener, toughener), reenagh (stringy, tight, tight of breath, toughish), lough lheeys, jough laynt (pick-me-up, toast, toast drink), aavreeagh, aaghleaysheyder. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | onictay tonificante (bracing, crisp, invigorative, life-giving, recuperative), tónico, tónica, tônico (cordial, corroborant, fundamental, restorative, restorer), tónico, estimulante (bracing, fresh, life-giving, pick-me-up, provocative, rousing, stimulant, suggestive, whet), acentuado (accented, accentuated, marked). (various references) tonicã (ground note, key note), tonic (bracing, healthful, invigorating, invigorator, pick me up, reparative, restorative), reconfortant (bracing, comfortable, grateful, gratefully, restorative, stimulating, strengthening), întremãtor (reparative, strengthening). (various references) укрепляющее средство, тонический (accentual), тоник. (various references) tonski naglasak, tonski (tonal), zvučan (clear, loud, resonant, ringing, sonant, soniferous, sonorous, tuning, voiced), osnovni ton (key note, keynote), okrepljujuće sredstvo (bracer), koji okrepljuje. (various references) tónico (accentual, bracing, pick me up), tónica (keynote, mixer). (various references) tonisk, stärkande (bracing, consolidation, invigorating, recuperative, restorative). (various references) tonik (bracer, toner, tonic water), ton ile ilgili, vurgulu ses, vurgulu (emphatic, emphatical), uyarıcı etki, kuvvetlendiren, kuvvet ilacı (roborant), kasları geren, esas nota (keynote), canlandırıcı (animator, bracing, crispy, enlivening, exhilarating, hearty, invigorating, refreshing, regenerative, restorative, stiffener, stimulus, uplifting). (various references) тонічний (accentual), тоніка, тонізуючий засіб (restorative), тонізуючий (restorative). (various references) l m tăng sức khoẻ; l m cho cường. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Greek | 700 BCE-300 CE | tonikos. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "tonic": tonically, tonicities, tonicity, tonics. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "tonic": acetonic, architectonic, atonic, cardiotonic, catatonic, cratonic, daltonic, diatonic, dystonic, electrotonic, excitonic, geotectonic, hypertonic, hypotonic, isotonic, ketonic, lactonic, leptonic, monotonic, myotonic, nektonic, pentatonic, peptonic, photonic, phytonic, phytoplanktonic, planktonic, platonic, pleustonic, plutonic, protonic, semitonic, skeletonic, subtonic, supertonic, syntonic, tectonic, vagotonic, zooplanktonic. (additional references) | |
Words containing "tonic": architectonically, architectonics, atonics, cardiotonics, catatonically, catatonics, diatonically, electrotonically, geotectonically, hypertonicities, hypertonicity, hypotonicities, hypotonicity, isotonically, isotonicities, isotonicity, monotonically, monotonicities, monotonicity, photonics, platonically, semitonically, subtonics, supertonics, tectonically, tectonics. (additional references) | |
| |
"Tonic" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: eonic, etonic, fonic, Gopnik, onic, Onich, Ronick, tanac, tandic, tantic, tarnic, teknik, tenec, toeic, Tofik, toin, toki, tomic, tonaw, toncil, toni, tonick, tonie, tonik, tonio, tonish, tonix, Tonni, tonoc, tonuw, tonvit, tonyu, tonzi, toonie, toric, tornic, Tornio, Tounis, towic, townish, tronc, Tronix, tuic, tunc, tundish, tuni, tunix, yonic, zonic. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "tonic" (pronounced tÄ"nik) |
| 5 | t Ä" n i k | catatonic, diatonic, hypertonic, isotonic, leptonic, planktonic, platonic, plutonic, tectonic. |
| 4 | -Ä" n i k | allophonic, avionic, bubonic, chronic, conic, demonic, electronic, embryonic, ganglionic, gnomonic, harmonic, hedonic, hegemonic, histrionic, hydroponic, hypersonic, ionic, ironic, isoelectronic, laconic, masonic, microelectronic, mnemonic, monophonic, nucleonic, ovonic, pharaonic, philharmonic, phonic, pneumonic, polyphonic, sardonic, sonic, supersonic, symphonic, synchronic, telephonic, ultrasonic. |
| 3 | -n i k | arsenic, beatnik, botanic, calisthenic, carcinogenic, clinic, cynic, Dominick, ethnic, eugenic, galvanic, germanic, hallucinogenic, inorganic, kibbutznik, manic, mechanic, messianic, monoclinic, multiethnic, neotenic, oceanic, organic, orogenic, panic, pathogenic, photogenic, polytechnic, psychogenic, pyrotechnic, refusenik, satanic, scenic, schizophrenic, splenic, Sputnik, technic, telegenic, Titanic, transgenic, transoceanic, tunic, tympanic, volcanic. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: ontic. | |
| Words within the letters "c-i-n-o-t" | |
-1 letter: cion, coin, coni, icon, into, otic. | |
-2 letters: con, cot, ion, nit, not, tic, tin, ton. | |
-3 letters: in, it, no, on, ti, to. | |
| Words containing the letters "c-i-n-o-t" | |
+1 letter: action, atonic, cation, chiton, citron, confit, cortin, coting, noetic, notice, tocsin, tonics. | |
+2 letters: aconite, actinon, actions, atonics, auction, biontic, botanic, caption, carotin, cations, caution, centimo, chitons, cistron, citrons, coating, cointer, coition, conceit, conduit, confits, consist, contain, convict, coontie, cortins, costing, ctenoid, deontic, diction, entopic, exciton, faction, fiction, gnostic, kenotic, ketonic, lection, linocut, nepotic, nicotin, noctuid, noritic, noticed, noticer, notices, paction, ruction, section, suction, taction, thionic, tocsins, tonemic, tonetic, tricorn, tyronic, unction. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)54 6F 6E 69 63 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references)- --- -. .. -.-. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01010100 01101111 01101110 01101001 01100011 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)T o n i c |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0054 006F 006E 0069 0063 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)5481807569 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Familiar 8. Quotations: Fiction | 9. Quotations: Non-fiction 10. Usage Frequency 11. Names: Frequency 12. Expressions | 13. Expressions: Internet 14. Translations: Modern 15. Translations: Ancient 16. Derivations | 17. Rhymes 18. Anagrams 19. Orthography 20. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
