Originally Posted by TanyaL
A muted color is a color that has been greyed. It is also called a shade of color.
By most schools of color theory (and art study), adding gray creates a tone, not a shade. As you have said, a shade is created by adding black, not gray.
An example:
Red - a hue, pure saturated color
Pink - a tint, white has been added
Dusty Rose - a tone, gray has been added
Maroon - a shade, black has been added
Some color info relative to quilts, including three great 'rules' down at the bottom of the page:
http://lilyk.tripod.com/color.html