tritone
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of tritone
1600–10; < Medieval Latin tritonus < Greek trítonos having three tones. See tri-, tone
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 first auction will feature iconic works such as Warhol's silkscreen portraits of Marilyn Monroe, an enormous tritone painting by Mark Rothko, and a seascape by Gerhard Richter.
From Reuters ● Sep. 9, 2021
During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, religious music rarely used the tritone because it created a sense of unease and irresolution rather than majesty or awe.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 3, 2020
Pictures that seem undistinguished in the tritone reproductions of the catalog are compelling in the originals.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 29, 2018
For example, the motif for Julio’s crossing of the threshold contains a fifth, a tritone, a fourth, and a tritone—intervals that narrow and then widen again.
From The New Yorker ● Aug. 15, 2016
The ‘diabolical’ sound produced by F and B, a distance known as a tritone, is likewise produced by pairing Bt and E, E and A#, C and Gl>, and all the other possible tritones.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
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.
