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tonal

tonal

adjective toh-NAHL Rare
Arts & Culture Music

Origin: From tono (tone) + -al.

Usage Note

Tonal is used in music theory to describe music organized around a tonal center or key, as opposed to atonal. In linguistics and phonetics, lengua tonal describes a language that uses pitch to distinguish word meaning. The noun tonalidad is the corresponding term for 'tonality' or 'key.'

Examples

"Esta pieza tiene una estructura tonal clara."

Natural Translation

This piece has a clear tonal structure.

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