polytonal
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of polytonal
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.
The sparse acoustic guitar at the beginning is deceptive; soon she’s in a polytonal tangle of horns, guitars and cross-rhythms, living up to her admonishment: “Bite off as much as you can chew.”
From New York Times ● Apr. 7, 2023
Still, Mr. McDonald said that Milhaud’s polytonal score, with different keys scraping against each other at any one moment, could be rewarding when approached the right way.
From New York Times ● Jun. 16, 2017
From guitars come open chords in strange tunings, scraping against the key; from keyboards come mellow polytonal clusters.
From New York Times ● Apr. 30, 2010
Better were three movements from Olivier Messiaen's dazzling Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant Jesus, in which Feltsman temporarily relaxed his inhibitions to project the music's ferocious rhythms and clashing polytonal harmonies.
From Time Magazine Archive
Best item: Plain Ole Blues, a cumulative band number to which the irrepressible Lizzie adds a polytonal obbligato.
From Time Magazine Archive
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.
