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

tonic

1 7.3

Relating to steady muscle activity that helps keep posture

adjective
/ˈtɒnɪk/

Specialized

: tónico

Vagal tone reflects the degree to which there is tonic, meaning ongoing vagal influence on the heart.

Examples

The output of the electrical stimulator and thus the tonic contractions of the new sphincter could be switched "off" with a magnet to allow defecation at a convenient time.

Academic text (1992)
During the assessment, the doctor noted the patient's tonic responses, which indicated healthy muscle tone and control.
I could imagine its resinous warmth against my skin, the contrast with the tonic chill of its metal parts.

Fiction book (1999)
Group 1 received postural control treatment focused on eye tracking, neck righting reaction, and tonic neck reflex.

Academic text (2015)
Once the infants gained neck control, eye tracking, neck righting reaction, tonic neck reflex, and postural control were used.

Academic text (2015)
The physical therapist emphasized the importance of maintaining tonic muscle contractions during rehabilitation exercises.
Athletes require tonic strength to perform optimally, enabling their muscles to remain engaged throughout the activity.

Antonyms

weak

524 1.0

Not strong in body or muscles and easily tired

flaccid

14 7.3

Soft and limp, without firmness or strength

Compounds

gin and tonic

18 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

1 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 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 key

Specialized

8.1

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

tonic solfa

9.1

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

How Tonic

rigid

35 4.0

hypertonic

Specialized

8.9

tonic

Specialized

1 7.3

hypotonic

Specialized

8.8

flaccid

14 7.3

Surface Forms

tonic positive

Morphology

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

The suffix '-ic' indicates a relation to 'tone', but the specific medical or physiological context may not be immediately clear to all learners.

Etymology

Tonic for muscle activity comes from the root tone meaning 'tension' or 'tone', so a tonic muscle has steady 'tone' or a continuous firmness that helps posture.