minor key

noun

, Music.

1. a key or mode based on a minor scale.
2. a less jubilant or more restrained mood, atmosphere, or quality:

   The conversation shifted to a minor key with news of the defeat.

minor key

noun

1. music a key based on notes taken from a corresponding minor scale

Word History and Origins

Origin of minor key¹

First recorded in 1810–20

Example Sentences

“Awful Sound” begins in a minor key, with a clackety, rumbling beat.

From The Daily Beast

This is the first English publication of Comedy in a Minor Key, a slim and poignantly titled novel.

From The Daily Beast

It is as though the term 'dominant' when applied to a Minor key were made to mean the dominant of the relative Major key.

From Project Gutenberg

Even before I knew how to use my tongue, my ear appreciated the difference between the major and the minor key.

From Project Gutenberg

Thus he sang in a high, minor key, with sudden drops to lower notes and inflections.

From Project Gutenberg

Very nice months they were—only one cloud worth mention in the blue; only one phrase in a minor key.

From Project Gutenberg

"They hate us; they mock us, and our children court them," droned another in a minor key.

From Project Gutenberg