relative minor

American  

noun

Music.

1. the minor key whose tonic is the sixth degree of a given major key.

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Etymology

Origin of relative minor

First recorded in 1810–20

Example Sentences

Most of these villains are relative minor leaguers in the DC canon.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 5, 2021

Musically, the song plays a clever trick by starting in the key of F major before switching to the relative minor, D major, and never fully resolving - echoing the lineman's disjointed state of mind.

From BBC • Aug. 10, 2017

This means the substituted chord is the relative minor of the tonic chord.

From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones

The pattern for the minor scale starts a half step plus a whole step lower than the major scale pattern, so a relative minor is always three half steps lower than its relative major.

From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones

A minor key is called the relative minor of the major key that has the same key signature.

From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones