Undertow vs Undertone - What's the difference?
undertow | undertone |
To pull or tow under; drag beneath; pull down.
* 1914 , Denton Jaques Snider, Lincoln at Richmond :
To pull down by, or as by, an undertow.
* 1998 , Richard Gough, David Williams, Ric Allsopp, Performance Research: On Place :
* 2003 , Michael T. Leibig, Mike Leibig Traveling in Disguise :
To flow or behave as an undertow.
* 1917 , The Unpopular review:
A short-range flow of water returning seaward from the waves breaking on the shore.
(by extension) A feeling that runs contrary to one's normal one.
an auditory tone of low pitch or volume
an implicit message perceived subtly alongside, but not detracting noticeably from, the explicit message conveyed in or by a book, film, verbal dialogue or similar (contrast with overtone); an undercurrent
a pale colour, or one seen underneath another colour
As nouns the difference between undertow and undertone
is that undertow is a short-range flow of water returning seaward from the waves breaking on the shore while undertone is an auditory tone of low pitch or volume.As a verb undertow
is to pull or tow under; drag beneath; pull down.undertow
English
Verb
(en verb)- Off in a gallop the General wheeled vanishing, And sped his steed away into the blue, When Lineoln now alone let go his speech Which had before been undertowed by force, [...]
- A sense that the air, a sighting of muddy river, or that outcrop of rock so implacably bland in the light of midday, is undertowed by memory.
- I sink because I cannot swim, undertowed to the Centre, abandoning all remembrance of the surface toward the cloud of unknowing, without choice I'm pulled.
- Everybody knows this and acts accordingly; but when you say it, it sounds bad and bold, and makes you uncomfortable to hear it, because the puritan blood is still undertowing in your veins.
Noun
(en noun)- A strong undertow may sweep a returning swimmer off their feet but it does not carry them far from the shore.