tritone

noun

tri·​tone ˈtrī-ˌtōn How to pronounce tritone (audio)
: a musical interval of three whole steps

Examples of tritone in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Chords have cultural identities attached to them: major triads are bright, minor triads are gloomy, perfect fifths are sturdy, tritones and semitones are unsettling. Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 2 Dec. 2024 Bulgari is also making history by adding a new tune to a range of chiming timepieces, introducing tritone harmonic intervals, created in collaboration with the Italian-Swiss conductor Lorenzo Viotti. Luisa Zargani, WWD, 3 Sep. 2019 Then, as Claire looks into the eyes of a coyote and senses chaotic energies rising within her, the hum gravitates downward, with double-basses and piano slithering across the classically diabolical interval of the tritone. Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 7 Oct. 2024 Something akin to obsession followed, as composers used tritones to probe the darker corners of nature and humanity. Staff, Quartz, 25 Sep. 2024 Its official title, the tritone, was a chord or interval of notes that was dubbed Diabolus in musica (devil in music) due to its evil sounding harmony. Cameron K McEwan, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 May 2024 There’s a long tradition of the tritone in TV themes, like The Simpsons and The Jetsons. Brian Hiatt, Rolling Stone, 1 June 2021 From top, a punch of pattern by Giorgio Armani; Acne’s clean and lean look; an advanced tritone outfit by E. Tautz. Jacob Gallagher, WSJ, 28 June 2019 The chord seethes with unsettled dissonance, packed with half- and whole-step clashes and anxious tritones, yet its triadic backbone lends stability. Matthew Guerrieri, BostonGlobe.com, 29 Mar. 2018

Word History

Etymology

Greek tritonon, from tri- + tonos tone

First Known Use

1609, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of tritone was in 1609

Dictionary Entries Near tritone

Cite this Entry

“Tritone.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tritone. Accessed 18 Dec. 2024.

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