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# tonic

«tonic» in Mova's school dictionary: **a fizzy drink with a slightly bitter taste** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

noun (a tonic, tonics; tonic — uncountable for the drink); adjective (tonic)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Tonic, or tonic water, is a fizzy drink with a slightly bitter taste. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tonic/#m1)

2) A tonic is something that makes you feel better, stronger or happier: «The holiday was a real tonic». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tonic/#m2)

3) In the past, a tonic was a medicine people believed would make them stronger. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tonic/#m3)

4) (music) The tonic is the first and main note of a musical scale or key, the «home» note, like C in C major. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tonic/#m4)

5) Hair tonic is a liquid put on hair. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tonic/#m5)

### sense in the lessons

In music lessons, older pupils learn the tonic as «doh», the note a tune often ends on. In everyday life, adults say a walk, sunshine or good news is «a tonic». In history, Victorians bought tonics that often did not really work. Phrases: «a real tonic», «tonic water», «the tonic note».

### examples

- The sunny weekend was a real tonic after the rainy week. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tonic/#x1)
- Grandad drinks tonic water with ice and lemon. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tonic/#x2)
- Seeing my friends again was just the tonic I needed. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tonic/#x3)
- In C major, the tonic is C. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tonic/#x4)
- The song ends on the tonic, so it sounds finished. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tonic/#x5)
- The old shop sold bottles of health tonic. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tonic/#x6)
- Tonic water glows under ultraviolet light because of the quinine in it. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tonic/#x7)

### note

Different senses: a drink, a cheering thing, a music note. Not to be confused with «tectonic» (earth plates) or «sonic» (sound).

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «tonic» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tonic/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.