pentatonic
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“In Walked Bud” emerges from a series of ostinatos, with a nearly dreamy focus on its pentatonic core.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
"It reminds me a lot of music from South Asia, melded with the pentatonic scale which reminds me more of Arab music, along with the African percussion sounds that come through," said concert-goer Joseph Badawi-Crook.
From BBC ● Dec. 27, 2025
Astronomers at the European Southern Observatory created what they call “music of the spheres” for the TOI 178 system by associating a sound on a pentatonic scale to each of the five planets.
From Salon ● Feb. 6, 2024
Asked several times about the similarities between the "Oh Why" and "Oh I" hooks, Sheeran repeatedly told the High Court in London: "They're both pentatonic scales and they both use vowels."
From Reuters ● Mar. 8, 2022
Figure 4.49: This is the pentatonic scale you get when you play the 11black keys11 on a piano.
From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
