mediant

American  

[mee-dee-uhnt] / ˈmi di ənt /

noun

1. the third degree of a major or minor musical scale.

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mediant British  

/ ˈmiːdɪənt /

noun

1. music

   1. the third degree of a major or minor scale

   2. ( as modifier )

      a mediant chord

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Etymology

Origin of mediant

1720–30; < Italian mediante < Late Latin mediant- (stem of mediāns ), present participle of mediāre to be in the middle. See medium, -ant

Example Sentences

Sound contains three sounds: That of the tonic, the dominant, and the mediant.

From Delsarte System of Oratory by Various

Each of them young,—each of them passionate lovers of Nature,—each brimming with hopes, and equipped with commanding intellect,—they formed the three-fold chord, with its tonic, dominant and mediant, of which is born all music....

From A Day with Samuel Taylor Coleridge by Byron, May Clarissa Gillington

But a mediant view is found in Kulhwych, where it is said of him that he restrains the demons of hell lest they should destroy the people of this world.

From The Religion of the Ancient Celts by MacCulloch, J. A.

Now, the twelfth reversed is nothing but the fifth or dominant, and the seventeenth becomes, by a double reversion, the third or mediant of the tonic.

From Delsarte System of Oratory by Various

Putting, pound, potassium, pot, porter; initial p, mediant t—that was his idea, poor little boy!

From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 16 (of 25) by Stevenson, Robert Louis