Word.ws English Dictionary

tonality

/təʊnˈæl.ɪ.tiː/US/toʊnˈæl.ɪ.ti/

tonality noun: the system of seven tones built on a tonic key; the 24 major and minor scales.

Noun

tonality (countable and uncountable, plural tonalities)

  1. The system of seven tones built on a tonic key; the 24 major and minor scales.
  2. A sound of specific pitch and quality; timbre.
  3. The quality of all the tones in a composition heard in relation to the tonic.
  4. The interrelation of the tones in a painting.

Forms of tonality

pluraltonalities

Origin of tonality

From French tonalité.

Words formed from tonality

Words that rhyme with tonality

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about tonality

What does tonality mean?
Tonality means the system of seven tones built on a tonic key; the 24 major and minor scales.
What part of speech is tonality?
Tonality is a noun.
How do you pronounce tonality?
Tonality is pronounced /təʊnˈæl.ɪ.tiː/ (UK).
What is the plural of tonality?
The plural of tonality is tonalities.

Words near tonality in the dictionary

  1. tonalite-trondhjemite-granodiorite
  2. tonalites
  3. tonalitic
  4. tonalities
  5. tonalitive
  6. tonality
  7. tonalization
  8. tonally
  9. tonalpohualli
  10. tonalpohuallis
  11. tonals

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: tonality (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-tonality.wav.

Cite this entry: “tonality.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tonality. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.