🍋 A bitter soda 💊 A medicine 🥤 A sweet soda 💪 Steady muscle tone 💧 Refreshing or energizing 🎵 Main music note 🎶 Main music chord 📈 Uses pitch for meaning 🔊 Main stressed syllable

tonic

1 5.5

Giving a feeling of energy and health

adjective
/ˈtɑnɪk/

: revitalizante

Although even the best-bred Americans don't sound particularly fine, there's a freshness to her manner which I find rather tonic.

Examples

After a long hike, the cool mountain air felt both tonic and refreshing.
Her smiles were tonic.

Fiction book (1998)
The first exposure to the evening air was tonic.

Fiction book (1996)
A light breeze stole off the water, and the purity of the storm-cleansed air was tonic, invigorating.

Fiction book (1999)
A good night's sleep can be tonic after a stressful week.
The spa treatment was tonic, leaving me revitalized and ready to face the day.

Synonyms

fresh

vstonic

79 1.0

Feeling rested and ready to work

imparts that renewed energy to someone rather than naming the resulting state

refreshing

vstonic

22 2.6

Giving a pleasant feeling of new energy

gives broader vigor and overall well being rather than only a brief lift

vital

vstonic

16 3.8

Full of energy and enthusiasm

produces or restores energy and well being rather than describing a trait

brisk

vstonic

11 3.7

Weather or air that feels cool and refreshes you

focuses on producing a feeling of vigor rather than speed or quickness

bracing

vstonic

8 3.9

Fresh cool air that makes you feel full of energy

provides general refreshment and vigor not limited to physical stimuli

Antonyms

debilitating

42 7.5

Causing serious weakness that stops normal daily activities

draining

14 4.4

Making you feel very tired and low on energy

Compounds

gin and tonic

19 2.7

A cold drink made with gin and tonic water and served with ice and lime

tonic water

2 2.5

A fizzy drink with a bitter taste often mixed with gin

hair tonic

Archaic

2 3.7

A liquid you put on hair to make it look neat, make it easier to manage, or help the scalp

splash of tonic

1 2.3

A small amount of tonic water added to a drink to give flavor

tonic key

Specialized

1 8.1

The main note and scale that a piece of music returns to

tonic accent

Specialized

9.1

Emphasis on a syllable shown by a change to a higher or lower voice

tonic epilepsy

Specialized

6.9

A seizure that makes the muscles suddenly become very stiff

tonic solfa

9.1

A way of writing music with syllables like do, re, mi to show the notes of a scale

How Invigorating

rejuvenation

12 5.4

energizing

1 4.1

tonic

1 5.5

refreshing

22 2.6

Surface Forms

tonic positive

Morphology

tonic = tone (semi-transparent) = ton + ic

While derived from 'tone', the meaning of invigorating or refreshing is not directly evident from the base word.

Etymology

Tonic meaning invigorating comes from old medicines called 'tonics' that were believed to give 'strength' or refreshment, so something described as tonic makes you feel more lively or refreshed.