half tone

US: (haf′tōn′, häf′-)

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

half′ tone′, [Music.]

1. Music and Dance semitone.

• 1645–55

half•tone  (haf′tōn′, häf′-), n. 

1. Photography, Fine Art Also called middle-tone. (in painting, drawing, graphics, photography, etc.) a value intermediate between light and dark.
2. Printing, Fine Art
   • Printing a process in which gradation of tone in an image is conveyed by first photographing the image through a screen to break up the continuous tones of the image into minute, closely spaced dots, then using the print obtained to produce a metal plate by photoengraving, and finally using the plate to reproduce the original image by letterpress or offset printing.
   • Printing the metal plate used in such a process.
   • Printing the print obtained in such a process. Cf. line cut.

adj. 

3. Photography, Fine Art pertaining to, using, used in, or produced by the halftone process:
   a halftone screen; a halftone print.

• half + tone 1645–55