minor mode

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noun Music.

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

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Origin of minor mode

First recorded in 1770–80

Words nearby minor mode

minority group, minority leader, minor key, minor league, minor leaguer, minor mode, minor order, minor orders, minor party, minor penalty, minor piece

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

How to use minor mode in a sentence

This mode, it is obvious, is based on the scale which is the descending scale of the modern Minor mode.
The Modes of Ancient Greek Music|David Binning Monro
Let us take a concrete example: the change from the major to the minor mode carries with it a change of sentiment.
Spirit and Music|H. Ernest Hunt
Lest this should become monotonous a musician played a melody in the minor mode and not without a strange haunting charm.
Indo-China and Its Primitive People|Henry Baudesson
Thus it appears as a major scale with a diminished second and a minor sixth, a sort of major-minor mode.
Franz Liszt|James Huneker

The minor mode is that of keys in which the tonic triad and one other cardinal triad are minor.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 1|Various

British Dictionary definitions for minor mode

minor mode

noun

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

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