tonal

[ tohn-l ]

/ ˈtoʊn l /

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adjective Music.

pertaining to or having tonality.

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Origin of tonal

1770–80; <Medieval Latin tonālis. See tone, -al¹

OTHER WORDS FROM tonal

ton·al·ly, adverb

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

How to use tonal in a sentence

It’s hard to see anything more than tonal shifts to win back suburban women.
Election reveals deeper divides between red and blue America|Philip Rucker, Robert Costa|November 5, 2020|Washington Post
Having tonally redefined rap, he was ready to claim the mantle of one of the greatest musical pioneers of all time.
Future Makes Us Rethink Everything We Thought We Knew About Rap Artists|Luke Hopping|December 15, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Tonally, however, it is very peculiar: It is undeniably Southern Gothic, but it has its own brand of off-beat humor.
James Franco: How Cormac McCarthy Changed My Life|James Franco|July 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The same goes for the elliptical machine hunger strike, which also comes off as tonally deficient, to say the least.
‘Camp X-Ray,’ A Kristen Stewart-Starring Guantanamo Bay Film, Premieres at Sundance|Marlow Stern|January 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST

But what really caught our attention was the tonally odd insertion of a wacky new supporting character.
The Week in TV|The Daily Beast Video|May 2, 2009|DAILY BEAST
Tonally those two episodes remind me of the early episodes of the show.
Resuscitation: A Q&A with the Creator of Scrubs|Miriam Datskovsky|January 5, 2009|DAILY BEAST
His new prints were all color—clear, sensitive, and tonally just.
John Baptist Jackson|Jacob Kainen

British Dictionary definitions for tonal

tonal

/ (ˈtəʊnəl) /

adjective

of or relating to tone

of, relating to, or utilizing the diatonic system; having an established keyCompare atonal

(of an answer in a fugue) not having the same melodic intervals as the subject, so as to remain in the original key
denoting a fugue as having such an answerCompare real 1 (def. 11)

Derived forms of tonal

tonally, adverb

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