What does "diatonic" mean?
Relating to or characteristic of a musical scale which contains seven pitches and a pattern of five whole tones and two semitones; particularly, of the major or natural minor scales.
Diatonic
adj
adj ·4 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Relating to or characteristic of a musical scale which contains seven pitches and a pattern of five whole tones and two semitones; particularly, of the major or natural minor scales.
- Grammar: diatonic is listed as adj.
- Nearest alternatives: major scale, tonal.
- Useful contrasts: chromatic, accidentals, chromatic shift.
- Usage evidence: Modern harps have a series of pedals that enable the performer to tune the instrument to any diatonic scale.
How to use "diatonic"
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Meaning check
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Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "diatonic" in a final draft.
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Before you rely on this definition
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Definition decision workflow
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Check whether "diatonic" is acting as adj in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
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Definitions
Adjective
- 1 Relating to or characteristic of a musical scale which contains seven pitches and a pattern of five whole tones and two semitones; particularly, of the major or natural minor scales. not-comparable
Adjective
- 1 based on the standard major or minor scales consisting of 5 tones and 2 semitones without modulation by accidentals wordnet
- 2 based on or using the five tones and two semitones of the major or minor scales of western music wordnet
Synonyms
All synonyms major scaletonal
Antonyms
Example
"Modern harps have a series of pedals that enable the performer to tune the instrument to any diatonic scale."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "diatonic"?
Common synonyms include: major scale, tonal.
How do you use "diatonic" in a sentence?
Modern harps have a series of pedals that enable the performer to tune the instrument to any diatonic scale.
Etymology
From French diatonique or Late Latin diatonicus, ultimately from Ancient Greek διατονικός (diatonikós), in the phrase [γένος (génos, “type, genus”)] διατονικός (diatonikós) (in reference to the diatonic tetrachord, and in contrast to the chromatic and enharmonic tetrachords), from διάτονος (diátonos) (διά (diá) + τόνος (tónos)), of disputed etymology, as both components are ambiguous. Most plausibly, διάτονος (diátonos) refers to “stretched intervals”, as the intervals of the diatonic tetrachord are the most evenly distributed or “stretched out”, compared to the chromatic and enharmonic tetrads, which use smaller, more crowded together intervals. Compare pyknon, from πυκνός (puknós, “dense, compressed”), referring to the lower part of the non-diatonic tetrachords: the diatonic tetrachord has widely spaced notes (“stretched out”), while the other tetrachords have a closely spaced notes (“compressed”).