tonality

noun

to·​nal·​i·​ty tō-ˈna-lə-tē 

plural tonalities

1

: tonal quality

2

a

: key sense 5

b

: the organization of all the tones and harmonies of a piece of music in relation to a tonic

3

: the arrangement or interrelation of the tones of a work of visual art

Examples of tonality in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Each string has Mayer’s name all over them, expertly engineered to meet his standards, bringing his fellow players a premium balance of tension and tonality. —Ron Hart, SPIN, 29 Nov. 2024

Past actions back the campaigns, and honesty is embedded into the tonality as a byproduct. —Arnav Sharma, Forbes, 27 Nov. 2024

Pay special attention to your pace of speech, filler word usage, pauses, power word usage, tonality and question relevance. —Pamela Skillings, Forbes, 22 Oct. 2024

Photographers will create a Preset, or dozens of Presets, that alter the overall tonality of a photo so that everything with that Preset has a consistent feel. —Jakob Schiller, Outside Online, 18 Sep. 2024

Word History

Etymology

probably borrowed from French tonalité, from tonal tonal + -ité -ity

First Known Use

1838, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

tonality

noun

to·​nal·​i·​ty tō-ˈnal-ət-ē 

plural tonalities

: the character of a piece of music based on its key or on the relation of its tones and chords to a particular keynote