diminished second
diminished second noun: an interval that is equivalent to a major second lowered by two chromatic semitones, or a minor second narrowed by a chromatic semitone. In twelve-tone equal temperament, this interval is equal to a unison, but in most other tunings, it is a distinct interval.
Noun
diminished second (plural diminished seconds)
- an interval that is equivalent to a major second lowered by two chromatic semitones, or a minor second narrowed by a chromatic semitone. In twelve-tone equal temperament, this interval is equal to a unison, but in most other tunings, it is a distinct interval.
Forms of diminished second
| plural | diminished seconds |
|---|
Questions about diminished second
- What does diminished second mean?
- Diminished second means an interval that is equivalent to a major second lowered by two chromatic semitones, or a minor second narrowed by a chromatic semitone. In twelve-tone equal temperament, this interval is equal to a unison, but in most other tunings, it is a distinct interval.
- What part of speech is diminished second?
- Diminished second is a noun.
- What is the plural of diminished second?
- The plural of diminished second is diminished seconds.
Words near diminished second in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: diminished second (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.
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Cite this entry: “diminished second.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/diminished_second. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
