ATONAL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does atonal mean? 

• ATONAL (adjective)
  The adjective ATONAL has 1 sense:

1. characterized by avoidance of traditional western tonality

  Familiarity information: ATONAL used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ATONAL (adjective)

Comparative: atonaler   
Superlative: atonalest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Characterized by avoidance of traditional western tonality

Synonyms:

atonal; unkeyed

Domain category:

music (an artistic form of auditory communication incorporating instrumental or vocal tones in a structured and continuous manner)

Antonym:

tonal (having tonality; i.e. tones and chords organized in relation to one tone such as a keynote or tonic)

Derivation:

atonality (the absence of a key; alternative to the diatonic system)

 Context examples 

This allele, which encodes protein atonal homolog 1, plays a role in the modulation of E-box dependent transcription.

(ATOH1 wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)

I take the spectrum and I, essentially, mathematically resample that to a musical scale and that gives that spectrum, which is inherently atonal, it gives it the tonality.

(Does Our Galaxy Sound Like Funky Blues Music?, George Putic/VOA)