tonal

[tohn-l]

adjective Music.

pertaining to or having tonality.

Origin of tonal

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

Related formston·al·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for tonally

Contemporary Examples of tonally

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
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
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
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

Historical Examples of tonally

His new prints were all color—clear, sensitive, and tonally just.
John Baptist Jackson
Jacob Kainen

British Dictionary definitions for tonally

tonal

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 Formstonally, 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

Word Origin and History for tonally

tonal

adj.

1776; see from tone + -al (1).