different between tune vs theme

English

Etymology

From Middle English tune, an unexplained variant of tone, from Old French ton, from Latin tonus, from Ancient Greek ????? (tónos, “a tone”). Doublet of tone, ton, and tonus.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /tju?n/, /t?u?n/
• (US) IPA^(key): /t(j)un/
• Rhymes: -u?n
• Homophone: chewn (among those with yod-coalescence in stressed syllables)

Noun

tune (countable and uncountable, plural tunes)

1. A melody.
2. A song, or short musical composition.
3. (informal) The act of tuning or maintenance.

4. The state or condition of being correctly tuned.

5. (obsolete) Temper; frame of mind.
6. (obsolete) A sound; a note; a tone.
7. (obsolete) Order; harmony; concord.

Derived terms

Related terms

• tone

Translations

Interjection

tune

1. (Britain, slang) Used to show appreciation or approval of a song.

Verb

tune (third-person singular simple present tunes, present participle tuning, simple past and past participle tuned)

1. To adjust (a musical instrument) so that it produces the correct pitches.
   • 1681, John Dryden, The Spanish Friar, or the Double Discovery, London: Richard Tonson & Jacob Tonson, Act II, p. 21,^[1]

     She bids me hope; oh Heav’ns; she pities me!

     And pity still foreruns approching love;

     As Lightning does the Thunder! Tune your Harps

     Ye Angels to that sound […]

2. To adjust or modify (esp. a mechanical or electrical device) so that it functions optimally.

   Tuning the engine gave me an extra twenty horsepower.

   Tune your mind, and anything becomes possible.

3. To adjust the frequency on a radio or TV set, so as to receive the desired channel.

   Tune to Channel 6 for all your favourite daytime shows.

4. (e.g. of senses or faculties) To adapt to or direct towards a particular target.

   My ears were tuned to the sounds of the forest.

5. To make more precise, intense, or effective; to put into a proper state or disposition.
6. To attune; to adapt in style of music; to make harmonious.
   • 1645, John Milton, “The Passion” in Poems of Mr. John Milton, both English and Latin, London: Humphrey Moseley, p. 17,^[2]

     For now to sorrow must I tune my song,

     And set my Harpe to notes of saddest wo,

7. (transitive) To give a certain tone or character to.
8. (obsolete) To sing with melody or harmony.
   • c. 1594, William Shakespeare, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Act IV, Scene 3,^[3]

     To see great Hercules whipping a gig,

     And profound Solomon to tune a jig,

   • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, London, Book 5, lines 195-196,^[4]

     Fountains and yee, that warble, as ye flow,

     Melodious murmurs, warbling tune his praise.

9. (South Africa, slang, transitive) To cheek; to be impudent towards.

   Are you tuning me?

Derived terms

Related terms

• attune

Translations

Further reading

• tune in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• tune in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

References

Anagrams

• Nute, neut, neut.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tyn/

Noun

tune f (plural tunes)

1. (slang) Alternative spelling of thune

Further reading

• “tune” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• tenu

German

Verb

tune

1. inflection of tunen:
   1. first-person singular present
   2. first/third-person singular subjunctive I
   3. singular imperative

Middle English

Noun

tune

1. Alternative form of toun

Ngarrindjeri

Noun

tune

1. sand

Portuguese

Verb

tune

1. first-person singular present subjunctive of tunar
2. third-person singular present subjunctive of tunar
3. first-person singular imperative of tunar
4. third-person singular imperative of tunar

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?tune]

Verb

tune

1. third-person singular present subjunctive of tuna
2. third-person plural present subjunctive of tuna

Spanish

Verb

tune

1. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of tunar.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of tunar.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of tunar.
4. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of tunar.

Tarantino

Pronoun

tune (personal, second person singular)

1. you

tune m (possessive, feminine toje)

1. your

English

Etymology

From Middle English teme, from Old French teme, tesme (French thème), from Latin thema, from Ancient Greek ???? (théma), from ?????? (títh?mi, “I put, place”), reduplicative from Proto-Indo-European *d?eh?- (“to put, place, do”) (whence also English do).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?i?m/
• Hyphenation: theme
• Rhymes: -i?m (for all senses)
• Rhymes: -i?mi (for the sense dealing with the Byzantine empire only) (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this pronunciation?)

Noun

theme (plural themes)

1. A subject of a talk or an artistic piece; a topic.
2. A recurring idea; a motif.
3. (dated) An essay written for school.
4. (music) The main melody of a piece of music, especially one that is the source of variations.
5. (film, television) A song, or a snippet of a song, that identifies a film, a TV program, a character, etc. by playing at the appropriate time.
6. (computing, figuratively) The collection of color schemes, sounds, artwork etc., that "skin" an environment towards a particular motif.
7. (grammar) The stem of a word.
8. (linguistics) thematic relation of a noun phrase to a verb.
9. (linguistics) Theta role in generative grammar and government and binding theory.
10. (linguistics) Topic, what is generally being talked about, as opposed to rheme.
11. A regional unit of organisation in the Byzantine empire.

Related terms

Translations

Verb

theme (third-person singular simple present themes, present participle theming, simple past and past participle themed)

1. (transitive) To give a theme to.

   We themed the birthday party around superheroes.

2. (computing, transitive) To apply a theme to; to change the visual appearance and/or layout of (software).

References

• Theme on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Hemet

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

theme (plural themes)

1. Alternative form of teme (“topic”)

Etymology 2

Pronoun

theme

1. Alternative spelling of þeme (“them”)