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

The exposition ends with some dreamy, pianissimo reminiscences of the closing theme in the mediant keys of F, D and B major, delicately scored for the wood-wind instruments and horns.

From Music: An Art and a Language by Spalding, Walter Raymond

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

Let us say, then, that every tone necessarily contains the tonic its generator, the dominant its engendered, and the mediant which proceeds from the other two.

From Delsarte System of Oratory by Various

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.

“Ah, you are mediant, incorrigible,” said the lady, in broken English, laughing as she spoke.

From Won from the Waves by Greene, John B.