tonal

American

[tohn-l] / ˈtoʊn l /

adjective

Music.

pertaining to or having tonality.

tonal British

/ ˈtəʊnəl /

adjective

of or relating to tone
of, relating to, or utilizing the diatonic system; having an established key Compare atonal
1. (of an answer in a fugue) not having the same melodic intervals as the subject, so as to remain in the original key
2. denoting a fugue as having such an answer Compare real 1

"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

Other Word Forms

tonally adverb

Etymology

Origin of tonal

1770–80; < Medieval Latin tonālis . See tone, -al ¹

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

She feels borne along by the ethereal sounds and unaccountably stirred by the slightest tonal changes.

From The Wall Street Journal

Another essay was published this week, a shorter one, less tonally academic but carrying a sharper sense of urgency.

From The Wall Street Journal

Structurally and tonally, it’s a far cry from the crowd-pleasing American blockbusters of the 1980s, yet it is a box-office success and reflects that audiences were ready for artier movies as mainstream entertainment.

From The Wall Street Journal

The film vaults across eight decades, but tonally it’s as still as a rabbit snare, letting the audience creep up to its theme of human obsolescence.

From Los Angeles Times

It was a tonal shift even from Monday's speech in Downing Street.

From BBC

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023