minor mode

American  

noun

Music.

1. a scale or key in which the third degree is a minor third above the tonic.

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minor mode British  

noun

1. music any arrangement of notes present in or characteristic of a minor scale or key

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Etymology

Origin of minor mode

First recorded in 1770–80

Example Sentences

The CAC's proposal requires industry players including mobile phone device makers, apps and app stores to develop a function called "minor mode" to set usage limits - which vary by age.

From BBC • Aug. 3, 2023

"Monkeypox can be biologically transmitted through respiratory droplets, but is that what's driving the spread? Or is it a minor mode of transmission or is that a major mode of transmission?"

From Salon • Aug. 3, 2022

Almost immediately Shipp is holding the sustain pedal and blanketing the keyboard in a minor mode, and Bisio alternating between a low pedal and tension cords of notes on the higher strings.

From New York Times • Jul. 1, 2022

No matter how many great individual Picasso works there are in London, Madrid or New York, in its museum Paris has the artist himself, early and late, in major and minor mode.

From New York Times • Oct. 27, 2014

Why is the minor mode so suggestive of sadness?

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 15, No. 88, February, 1865 by Various