equal temperament

American  

noun

Music.

1. the division of an octave into 12 equal semitones, as in the tuning of a piano.

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Example Sentences

“It’s almost universally accepted that 12-tone equal temperament is the only way to tune, but that’s wrong. It felt important for people to know.”

From New York Times • Dec. 28, 2021

In its simplest terms, just intonation means that the ratios between notes are whole numbers, rather than the irrational ratios that divide the octave in the familiar framework of equal temperament.

From New York Times • Dec. 28, 2021

But it also loses in the process a richness, making me wonder what might have happened were it played in a more acoustically natural equal temperament.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 25, 2017

Meanwhile there was no such thing back then as equal temperament.

From The Guardian • Dec. 29, 2016

Except for the unison and the octave, none of the ratios for equal temperament are exactly the same as for the pure interval.

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