minor key

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noun Music.

a key or mode based on a minor scale.

a less jubilant or more restrained mood, atmosphere, or quality: The conversation shifted to a minor key with news of the defeat.

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His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

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Origin of minor key

First recorded in 1810–20

Words nearby minor key

minoritize, minority, minority carrier, minority group, minority leader, minor key, minor league, minor leaguer, minor mode, minor order, minor orders

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use minor key in a sentence

“Awful Sound” begins in a minor key, with a clackety, rumbling beat.
‘Reflektor’ Makes Arcade Fire the Biggest Band in the World|Andrew Romano|October 29, 2013|DAILY BEAST
This is the first English publication of Comedy in a Minor Key, a slim and poignantly titled novel.
Lost Masterpieces|Jacob Silverman|August 18, 2010|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.
The Modes of Ancient Greek Music|David Binning Monro
Even before I knew how to use my tongue, my ear appreciated the difference between the major and the minor key.
Autobiographical Reminiscences with Family Letters and Notes on Music|Charles Gounod

Thus he sang in a high, minor key, with sudden drops to lower notes and inflections.
Red Hunters And the Animal People|Charles A. Eastman
Very nice months they were—only one cloud worth mention in the blue; only one phrase in a minor key.
Somehow Good|William de Morgan
"They hate us; they mock us, and our children court them," droned another in a minor key.
The Incendiary|W. A. (William Augustine) Leahy

British Dictionary definitions for minor key

minor key

noun

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012