Adjacent Words

Chromatic definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CHROMATIC, a.
1. Relating to color.
2. Noting a particular species of music, which proceeds by several semitones in succession.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: able to refract light without spectral color separation; "chromatic lens"
2: based on a scale consisting of 12 semitones; "a chromatic scale" [ant: diatonic]
3: being or having or characterized by hue [ant: achromatic, neutral]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Date: 1708 accidental 2 II. adjective Etymology: Greek chr?matikos, from chr?mat-, chr?ma skin, color, modified tone; akin to Greek chr?s color Date: 1630 1. a. of or relating to color or color phenomena or sensations b. highly colored 2. of or relating to chroma 3. a. of, relating to, or giving all the tones of the chromatic scale b. characterized by frequent use of accidentals • chromatically adverb • chromaticism noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 of or produced by colour; in (esp. bright) colours. 2 Mus. a of or having notes not belonging to a diatonic scale. b (of a scale) ascending or descending by semitones. Phrases and idioms: chromatic aberration Optics the failure of different wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation to come to the same focus after refraction. chromatic semitone Mus. an interval between a note and its flat or sharp. Derivatives: chromatically adv. chromaticism n. Etymology: F chromatique or L chromaticus f. Gk khromatikos f. khroma -atos colour

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Chromatic Chro*mat"ic, a. [L. chromaticus, Gr. ?, suited for color, fr. ?, ?, color; akin to ? color, ? skin, color of the skin.] 1. Relating to color, or to colors. 2. (Mus.) Proceeding by the smaller intervals (half steps or semitones) of the scale, instead of the regular intervals of the diatonic scale. Note: The intermediate tones were formerly written and printed in colors. Chromatic aberration. (Opt.) See Aberration, 4. Chromatic printing, printing from type or blocks covered with inks of various colors. Chromatic scale (Mus.), the scale consisting of thirteen tones, including the eight scale tones and the five intermediate tones.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. In music, chromatic means related to the scale that consists only of semitones. ...the notes of the chromatic scale. ADJ 2. Chromatic means related to colours. ADJ: usu ADJ n

Moby Thesaurus

cold, colorific, coloring, cool, dichromatic, enharmonic, glowing, harmonious, many-colored, matching, medley, monochromatic, monochrome, monochromic, motley, parti-colored, pigmentary, polychromatic, prismatic, rainbow, semitonic, spectral, tinctorial, tingent, tonal, tonic, toning, variegated, warm