n. The system of seven tones built on a tonic key; the 24 major and minor scales.
n. A sound of specific pitch and quality; timbre.
n. The quality of all the tones in a composition heard in relation to the tonic.
n. The interrelation of the tones in a painting.
the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
n. The principle of key in music; the character which a composition has by virtue of the key in which it is written, or through the family relationship of all its tones and chords to the keynote, or tonic, of the whole.
The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
n. In music:
n. The character or quality of tone.
n. Same as key, 7 .
n. In painting, the scheme of color of a picture; system of tones.
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
n. any of 24 major or minor diatonic scales that provide the tonal framework for a piece of music
Word Usage
"All forms that we have ever known ... have always been conceived in tonality, that is, in the sense of a tonal magnetic center, with subsidiary tonal relationships."