tone down

1. 1.

   deaden (a sound or noise), especially by wrapping

   Synonymsmufflemutedulldampdampen

   Broadersoften
2. 2.

   make less strong or intense; soften

   “Tone down that aggressive letter”

   “The author finally tamed some of his potentially offensive statements”

   Synonymsmoderatetame

   Broaderchange

Questions about tone down

What does tone down mean?

tone down means "deaden (a sound or noise), especially by wrapping". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

What is another word for tone down?

Close synonyms include muffle, mute, dull, damp, dampen. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is tone down a common word?

tone down is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.