quarter tone

American

noun

Music.

an interval equivalent to half of a semitone.

quarter tone British

noun

music a quarter of a whole tone; a pitch interval corresponding to 50 cents measured on the well-tempered 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

Etymology

Origin of quarter tone

First recorded in 1770–80

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 score is punctuated by a kind of signal: two pianos, tuned a quarter tone apart, arpeggiating upward into silence.

From The New Yorker • Nov. 19, 2018

It is a granitic 36-minute score that begins with a little fanfare from two pianos placed on either side of the orchestra and tuned a quarter tone apart.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 5, 2018

A diesis is a quarter tone; hence in a semitone there are included two dieses.

From The Ten Books on Architecture by Vitruvius Pollio

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023