overtone

Etymology

over- + tone, calque of German Oberton.

noun

1. (physics, music) A tone whose frequency is an integer multiple of another; a member of the harmonic series.
2. (figurative, often in the plural) An implicit message (in a film, book, verbal discussion or similar) perceived as overwhelming the explicit message.
   The lawyer and twice-divorced mother of three had presented herself as the modern face of her party, trying to strip it of unsavoury overtones after her father's convictions for saying the Nazi occupation of France was not "particularly inhumane". April 23, 2012, Angelique Chrisafis, “François Hollande on top but far right scores record result in French election”, in the Guardian

verb

1. (transitive) To give an overtone to.
   The flesh tints appear to have been darkened by being overworked; the draperies are overtoned in the same way […] 1860, The Art Journal, page 39
   The background is now rendered by using meadow green with a stick pastel around the lower area under the lynx in an irregular fashion, and overtoning the areas closer to the animal with an irregular application of leaf green color. 1977, Sol Dember, Steven A. Dember, Jeffrey H. Dember, Drawing & painting the world of animals, page 55
   Can you imagine, finally, the opening of Janácek's Sinfonietta, with its richly overtoned, overlapping fanfares, performed not by brass but by a consort of oboes—even very loud ones? 2011, Jerrold Levinson, Music, Art, and Metaphysics