If something has undertones of a particular kind, it suggests ideas or attitudes of this kind without expressing them directly. a witty, racy story with surprisingly serious undertones
{i} subdued sound, murmur, faint background noise; underlying feeling, connotation, suggestion; subdued tone of color
The influence of the underlying pigment or other colors within a hue A mouse gray has a warm undertone (yellow) and a steel gray has a cool undertone (blue)
If you say something in an undertone, you say it very quietly. `What d'you think?' she asked in an undertone Well-dressed clients were talking in polite undertones as they ate
A subtle or subdued color of limited intensity that lends character to the dominant color of a coating
the appearance of an underlying color tone in a thin ink film on white background or when viewed by transmitted light
A color covered up by other colors but when viewed by transmitted light, shows through the other colors modifying the effect
The color of an ink or film due to light reflecting through it from the substrate (e g , The substrate may make the ink color appear lighter or darker, or offshade )