subtonic

American  

[suhb-ton-ik] / sʌbˈtɒn ɪk /

noun

1. the seventh tone of a scale, being the next below the upper tonic.

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subtonic British  

/ sʌbˈtɒnɪk /

noun

1. Also called: leading note.  music the seventh degree of a major or minor scale

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Etymology

Origin of subtonic

First recorded in 1825–35; sub- + tonic

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

subtonic

Tap into the cumulative wealth of experience and network of the Brotherhood and dance the subtonic tango with these Boxcar Banditos!!

From Time Magazine Archive

Be careful not to convert the subtonic into a tonic.

From The Ontario Readers: The High School Reader, 1886 by Ontario. Ministry of Education

Nay, this grammatist makes b, not a labial mute, as Walker, Webster, Cobb, and others, have called it, but a nasal subtonic, or semivowel.

From The Grammar of English Grammars by Brown, Goold

"So gradually as to allow its being engrafted on a subtonic."

From The Grammar of English Grammars by Brown, Goold

Indefinite Syllables are capable of almost indefinite prolongation; they are those which terminate in a tonic, or any subtonic except one of the three abrupt subtonics, b, d, g; for example, awe, fudge, hail, arm.

From The Ontario Readers: The High School Reader, 1886 by Ontario. Ministry of Education