tonality
Music.
the sum of relations, melodic and harmonic, existing between the tones of a scale or musical system.
a particular scale or system of tones; a key.
(in painting, graphics, etc.) the system of tones or tints, or the color scheme, of a picture.
the quality of tones.
Origin of tonality
1Other words from tonality
- to·nal·i·tive, adjective
- non·to·nal·i·ty, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use tonality in a sentence
These timbres and tonalities are his stronghold, he is ignorant of nearly everything else.
Instigations | Ezra PoundCertainly his tonalities are on the other side of diatonic and chromatic.
Egoists | James HunekerScales in all tonalities, each at least twice well rendered.
Piano Playing | Josef HofmannThis is a story in which the "tonalities of the affair" are much more subtle than in Typhoon.
Old and New Masters | Robert LyndIt treats chiefly of the tonalities of the plain chant, and of counterpoints constructed upon them.
British Dictionary definitions for tonality
/ (təʊˈnælɪtɪ) /
music
the actual or implied presence of a musical key in a composition
the system of major and minor keys prevalent in Western music since the decline of modes: Compare atonality
the overall scheme of colours and tones in a painting
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
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