tonal

CEFRB2

/ˈtoʊnəl/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

01
adjective
Related to the quality or use of musical sounds.
02
adjective
Extra detail
Employing tones that have a predictable relationship to some tonic.

Examples

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Also pronounced

Deep Dive

Extra meanings

Of or relating to tones or tonality.
Of or relating to the general character, mood, or trend of something.
Employing differences in pitch (tones) to distinguish differences in the meaning of otherwise similar words (words which would otherwise be homophonic).

In context

Chinese is a tonal language.
Songs for the family-table on Sabbaths and holidays—songs which give those various holy days tonal expression and which aim to spiritualize the meals.
When a tonal suffers misfortune or death, the same thing happens to the person associated with it.

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Question 1 · Quick check

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The word in print, with each source given in full.

Songs for the family-table on Sabbaths and holidays—songs which give those various holy days tonal expression and which aim to spiritualize the meals.
1929, Abraham Zevi Idelsohn, Jewish Music: Its Historical Development, page 358
The lurid way the story played out felt like a tonal shift for Empire, but not necessarily a bad one—in the process of shedding its cool costume-drama attitude for grotesque family dysfunction, the episode felt for once less like a story about Prohibition and more one about a specific set of people.
2011 December 5, James Poniewozik, “Boardwalk Empire Watch: Mother, May I Sleep With Danger?”, in Time
When a tonal suffers misfortune or death, the same thing happens to the person associated with it.
1989, Robert Bartley Taylor, Indians of Middle America: an introduction to the ethnology of Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, page 122

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From tone + -al.