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diatonic - 4 dictionary results

di⋅a⋅ton⋅ic

  [dahy-uh-ton-ik]
Use diatonic in a Sentence
–adjective Music.
1. noting those scales that contain five whole tones and two semitones, as the major, minor, and certain modal scales.
2. of or pertaining to the tones, intervals, or harmonies of such scales.
Origin:
1590–1600; < LL diatonicus < Gk diatonikós; see dia-, tonic

Related forms:
di⋅a⋅ton⋅i⋅cal⋅ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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di·a·ton·ic   (dī'ə-tŏn'ĭk)   
adj.   Music
Of or using only the seven tones of a standard scale without chromatic alterations.

[Late Latin diatonicus, from Greek diatonikos : dia-, dia- + tonos, tone; see tone.]
di'a·ton'i·cal·ly adv., di'a·ton'i·cism (-ĭ-sĭz'əm) n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Diatonic

Di`a*ton"ic\, a. [L. diatonicus, diatonus, Gr. ?, ?, fr. ? to stretch out; dia` through + ? to stretch: cf. F. diatonique. See Tone.] (Mus.) Pertaining to the scale of eight tones, the eighth of which is the octave of the first.

Diatonic scale (Mus.), a scale consisting of eight sounds with seven intervals, of which two are semitones and five are whole tones; a modern major or minor scale, as distinguished from the chromatic scale.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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diatonic

in music, any stepwise arrangement of the seven "natural" pitches (scale degrees) forming an octave without altering the established pattern of a key or mode-in particular, the major and natural minor scales. Some scales, including pentatonic and whole-tone scales, are not diatonic because they do not include the seven degrees.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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