C major

American  

[see may-jer] / ˈsi ˈmeɪ dʒər /

noun

1. Music. the key that has C as the tonic or first note of its scale and is represented by a key signature having no sharps or flats.

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Example Sentences

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C major

Other gifts include Bruckner’s Fourth and Eighth Symphonies, Schubert’s “Great” C major, Dvořák’s “New World” and Sibelius’s Fifth—a work in which Karajan remains sovereign.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 23, 2025

To humans, consonant music generally sounds pleasant and smooth—think a C major chord—whereas dissonance tends to sound jarring and uncomfortable, such as the score from Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho.

From Science Magazine ● Mar. 22, 2022

This key is closely related to C major, so I understand how the Doodle may have misinterpreted it.

From Slate ● Mar. 22, 2019

One reason the results are not cacophonous is that C major has no sharps and no flats.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 13, 2016

F lydian has the same key signature as C major, which is a perfect fourth lower.

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