chromatic scale

American  

noun

Music.

1. a scale progressing entirely by semitones.

---

chromatic scale British  

noun

1. a twelve-note scale including all the semitones of the octave

---

Etymology

Origin of chromatic scale

First recorded in 1780–90

Example Sentences

It doesn’t take long for Mozart to use every note in the chromatic scale, and when he gets to the last one, a D-flat, he lets you know with great, unresolved emphasis.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 16, 2020

"Randy Wolfe did not create the descending chromatic scale," Anderson told jurors.

From Reuters • Jun. 22, 2016

The technique, also known as serialism, entails using all 12 notes of the Western chromatic scale in rigidly equal proportion throughout a composition.

From New York Times • Nov. 14, 2015

All 12 notes of the chromatic scale are heard, defying the traditional musical structure that would insist on a home key and a limited subset of harmonically related notes.

From The Guardian • Jan. 3, 2013

A second technician gauges Werner’s eye color against a chromatic scale on which sixty or so shades of blue are displayed.

From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr