an ability to understand the meaning or importance of something (or the knowledge acquired as a result); "how you can do that is beyond my comprehension"; "he was famous for his comprehension of American literature"
the text of a popular song or musical-comedy number; "his compositions always started with the lyrics"; "he wrote both words and music"; "the song uses colloquial language"
expressing deep personal emotion; "the dancer's lyrical performance"
used of a singer or singing voice that is light in volume and modest in range; "a lyric soprano"
of or relating to a category of poetry that expresses emotion (often in a songlike way); "lyric poetry"
relating to or being musical drama; "the lyric stage"
the weather in some location averaged over some long period of time; "the dank climate of southern Wales"; "plants from a cold clime travel best in winter"
the prevailing psychological state; "the climate of opinion"; "the national mood had changed radically since the last election"
an area in which something acts or operates or has power or control: "the range of a supersonic jet"; "the ambit of municipal legislation"; "within the compass of this article"; "within the scope of an investigation"; "outside the reach of the law"; "in the political orbit of a world power"
(music) the section of a movement (especially in sonata form) where the major musical themes first occur
an account that sets forth the meaning or intent of a writing or discourse; "we would have understood the play better if there had been some initial exposition of the background"
a systematic interpretation or explanation (usually written) of a specific topic
the words of something written; "there were more than a thousand words of text"; "they handed out the printed text of the mayor's speech"; "he wants to reconstruct the original text"
the main body of a written work (as distinct from illustrations or footnotes etc.); "pictures made the text easier to understand"
a passage from the Bible that is used as the subject of a sermon; "the preacher chose a text from Psalms to introduce his sermon"
(linguistics) a pitch or change in pitch of the voice that serves to distinguish words in tonal languages; "the Beijing dialect uses four tones"
the quality of something (an act or a piece of writing) that reveals the attitudes and presuppositions of the author; "the general tone of articles appearing in the newspapers is that the government should withdraw"; "from the tone of her behavior I gathered that I had outstayed my welcome"
a steady sound without overtones; "they tested his hearing with pure tones of different frequencies"
a musical interval of two semitones
the quality of a person's voice; "he began in a conversational tone"; "he spoke in a nervous tone of voice"
give a healthy elasticity to; "Let's tone our muscles"
change to a color image; "tone a photographic image"
change the color or tone of; "tone a negative"
vary the pitch of one's speech
utter monotonously and repetitively and rhythmically; "The students chanted the same slogan over and over again"
know and comprehend the nature or meaning of; "She did not understand her husband"; "I understand what she means"
perceive (an idea or situation) mentally; "Now I see!"; "I just can't see your point"; "Does she realize how important this decision is?"; "I don't understand the idea"
believe to be the case; "I understand you have no previous experience?"
make sense of a language; "She understands French"; "Can you read Greek?"
a positive feeling of liking; "he had trouble expressing the affection he felt"; "the child won everyone's heart"; "the warmness of his welcome made us feel right at home"