minor key


nounMusic.
  1. a key or mode based on a minor scale.

  2. a less jubilant or more restrained mood, atmosphere, or quality: The conversation shifted to a minor key with news of the defeat.

Origin of minor key

1
First recorded in 1810–20

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use minor key in a sentence

  • Very nice months they were—only one cloud worth mention in the blue; only one phrase in a minor key.

    Somehow Good | William de Morgan
  • "They hate us; they mock us, and our children court them," droned another in a minor key.

    The Incendiary | W. A. (William Augustine) Leahy

British Dictionary definitions for minor key

minor key

noun
  1. music a key based on notes taken from a corresponding minor scale

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012