chromatic
Syllables: chro·mat·ic/kɹəˈmæt.ɪk/US/kɹəˈmæt.ɪk/
chromatic adjective: characterized or caused by, or relating to, colour or hue.
Adjective (1)
chromatic (not generally comparable, comparative more chromatic, superlative most chromatic)
- Characterized or caused by, or relating to, colour or hue.
- Antonyms:
- nonchromatic
- Brightly coloured; colourful, vivid.
- Antonyms:
- achromatic, drab, dull, colourless, nonchromatic
- Having the capacity to separate spectral colours by refraction.
- Relating to colorings of graphs.
- One of three types of tetrachord (the others being the diatonic and enharmonic), with an interval between half and four-fifths of the total interval of a tetrachord.
- Relating to or using notes not belonging to the diatonic scale of the key in which a passage of music is written.
- All the intervals of the scale that are a whole tone (step) distant from each other may be divided into half tones, (small steps), forming an entire scale of small intervals, (half tones), called the Chromatic Scale. […] All the tones (steps) of the scale being thus divided, either by means of the...1853, William B[atchelder] Bradbury, George F[rederick] Root, assisted by Thomas Hastings, T[imothy] B. Mason, “The Singing Class”, in The Shawm: Library of Church Music: […], New York, N.Y.: Mason...
- Antonyms:
- achromatic, diatonic
- Moving in semitones.
Adjective (2)
chromatic (not comparable)
- Relating to chromatin (a complex of DNA, RNA, and proteins within the cell nucleus out of which chromosomes condense during cell division).
- Each nucleus has, then, (1) a protoplasmic body, and (2) a portion formed of nuclein, which is the chromatin of [Walther] Flemming. […] The chromatic reticulum of Flemming is only an appearance due to the regular crossing of its convolutions, rarely to their temporary union.1887 December 14, John Gray M‘Kendrick [i.e., John Gray McKendrick], “IV.—On the Modern Cell Theory, and the Phenomena of Fecundation.”, in Proceedings of the Philosophical Society of Glasgow, volume...
- The chromatic threads next arrange themselves in the equatorial plane of the nucleus, and then divide into two groups of threads, each of which forms a daughter nucleus.1889 September, Harold W[illiam] T[aylor] Wager, “4. Observations on the Structure of the Nuclei in Peronospora, and on Their Behaviour during the Formation of the Oosphere.”, in Report of the...
chromatic meaning in Tamil, Bengali, Malayalam and Kannada
chromatic in Tamil
- நிறத்திற்குரிய, நிற, வண்ண
chromatic in Bengali
- সঙ্গীতে ক্রোম্যাটিক স্কেল
chromatic in Malayalam
- വർണ്ണങ്ങളുള്ള, വർണ്ണസംബന്ധിയായ, ഉജ്ജ്വലവർണ്ണമായ, രാഗസംബന്ധിയായ
chromatic in Kannada
- ಬಣ್ಣದ, ಹೊಗರಿನ
More languagesFewer languages
- chromatic in Sanskrit
- ग्रामीण grāmīṇa
- chromatic in Tagalog
- kulayin
- chromatic in Indonesian
- kromatis
Antonyms of chromatic
Forms of chromatic
| comparative | more chromatic |
|---|---|
| superlative | most chromatic |
Origin of chromatic
Borrowed from French chromatique (“chromatic”) or directly from its etymon Latin chrōmaticus, from Ancient Greek χρωματικός (khrōmatikós, “relating to colour; one of the three types of tetrachord in Greek music”), from χρῶμα (khrôma, “colour; pigment; chromatic scale in music; music”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰer- (“to grind; to rub; to stroke; to remove”), perhaps in the sense of the grinding of pigments) + -τῐκός (-tĭkós, suffix forming adjectives); analysable as chroma + -tic.
From chromatin + -ic (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives from nouns).
Words formed from chromatic
- achromatic
- allochromatic
- amphichromatic
- apochromat
- bathochromatic
- bichromatic
- biochromatic
- chorochromatic
- chromatic aberration
- chromatical
- chromatically
- chromaticism
- chromaticity
- chromaticize
- chromaticness
- chromatic number
- chromatic scale
- chromatic semitone
- dichromatic
- fluorochromatic
- heterochromatic
- hexachromatic
- homochromatic
- hyperchromatic
- idiochromatic
- interchromatic
- isochromatic
- kinechromatic
- lithochromatic
- monochromatic
- multichromatic
- nonchromatic
- normochromatic
- omnichromatic
- orthochromatic
- panchromatic
- pentachromatic
- perichromatic
- photochromatic
- polychromatic
- quadchromatic
- spatiochromatic
- tetrachromat
- tetrachromatic
- thermochromatic
- trichromatic
- xanthochromatic
Phrases with chromatic
Words that rhyme with chromatic
- automatic
- emphatic
- static
- systematic
- idiomatic
- attic
- hexachromatic
- thematic
- aromatic
- democratic
- hepatic
- lymphatic
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- schematic
- adiabatic
- aristocratic
- asymptomatic
- athematic
- autocratic
- axiomatic
- chiasmatic
- erratic
- fanatic
- fluorochromatic
- interchromatic
- phlegmatic
- prismatic
- psychosomatic
- quadchromatic
- rheumatic
- sciatic
- stromatic
- aerobatic
- altermatic
- aposematic
- asthmatic
- bathochromatic
- bizygomatic
- bureaucratic
- chorochromatic
- chromocratic
- circumzygomatic
- coccochromatic
- curatic
- diabatic
- dyschromatic
- endolymphatic
- episematic
- epistatic
- frontozygomatic
- glymphatic
- goniochromatic
- graphematic
- herostratic
- hydroinformatic
- idiosyncratic
- immunochromatic
- infrazygomatic
- interzygomatic
- katabatic
- kinechromatic
Questions about chromatic
- What does chromatic mean?
- Chromatic means characterized or caused by, or relating to, colour or hue.
- What is chromatic in Tamil?
- Chromatic in Tamil is நிறத்திற்குரிய, நிற, வண்ண. See Chromatic meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is chromatic?
- Chromatic is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce chromatic?
- Chromatic is pronounced /kɹəˈmæt.ɪk/ (UK).
Words near chromatic in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: chromatic (page history and authors); chromatic (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); chromatic (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); chromatic (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); chromatic (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ग्रामीण (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-chromatic.wav.
Cite this entry: “chromatic.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/chromatic. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.