grace note

American  

noun

Music.

1. a note not essential to the harmony or melody, added as an embellishment, especially an appoggiatura.

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grace note British  

noun

1. music a note printed in small type to indicate that it is melodically and harmonically nonessential

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Etymology

Origin of grace note

First recorded in 1815–25

Example Sentences

The rainbow, however ephemeral, provides more than a grace note.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 1, 2026

Jeff Schaffer: It was a final, strident grace note.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 8, 2024

“How to Break” abandons showing for telling long before it hits the end of its nearly two-hour, no-intermission run time, but the design’s visual ambiguity is a welcome grace note.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 5, 2023

The peach was a grace note, fresh but subtle, in the company of the potent but oh-so-smooth spirit.

From Washington Post • Jan. 23, 2023

The first violin perceptibly flatted a C that should have been natural; the clarionet blew a bubble instead of a grace note; Miss Carrington giggled and the youth with parted hair swallowed an olive seed.

From The Voice of the City: Further Stories of the Four Million by Henry, O.