tonality
tonality Lexical Profile
tonality Game Scores & Validity
• noun
The harmonic system or character of a piece of music determined by the arrangement of its pitches and chords around a central keynote or tonic.
"The symphony shifts dramatically from a sombre minor tonality to a triumphant major key in the final movement."
The overall color scheme, interplay of light and shade, or visual relationship of tones in a painting, photograph, or film.
"The photographer adjusted the contrast to preserve the warm, golden tonality of the late afternoon landscape."
The distinctive auditory quality, pitch, or expressive inflection of a sound or voice.
"Listeners immediately recognized the rich, velvety tonality of the cellist's vintage instrument."
• Rhymes for tonality
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in the mid-19th century from French tonalité, coined by the Belgian musicologist François-Joseph Fétis from tonal, ultimately deriving from Latin tonus and Ancient Greek tonos ('a stretching, tension, or pitch of voice').