overtone

noun

1. A tone whose frequency is an integer multiple of another; a member of the harmonic series.
2. (figuratively, in-plural, often)An implicit message (in a film, book, verbal discussion, or similar) perceived as overwhelming the explicit message.

   “A window opened above the shop, and a frowsty-looking man, yellow-pale, was quickly and nervously hauling in the national flag. There were shouts of derision and mockery—a great overtone of acrid derision—the flag and its owner ignominiously disappeared.”

   “The lawyer and twice-divorced mother of three [Marine Le Pen] had presented herself as the modern face of her party, trying to strip it of unsavoury overtones after her father's [Jean-Marie Le Pen's] convictions for saying the Nazi occupation of France was not "particularly inhumane".”

3. An implicit message (in a film, book, verbal discussion, or similar) perceived subtly alongside, but not overwhelming, the explicit message.

   “It has already been established that the crew was competent and qualified for operation of AS66. With the exception of some overtones of irritation about the manner in which another aircraft, N799Y, affected the flight's progress into the Juneau area, the recorded cockpit conversation, in general, reflects a relaxed but businesslike atmosphere.”

verb

1. (transitive)To give an overtone to.

   “The flesh tints appear to have been darkened by being overworked; the draperies are overtoned in the same way […]”

   “The background is now rendered by using meadow green with a stick pastel around the lower area under the lynx in an irregular fashion, and overtoning the areas closer to the animal with an irregular application of leaf green color.”

   “Can you imagine, finally, the opening of Janácek's Sinfonietta, with its richly overtoned, overlapping fanfares, performed not by brass but by a consort of oboes—even very loud ones?”