MINOR KEY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does minor key mean? 

• MINOR KEY (noun)
  The noun MINOR KEY has 1 sense:

1. a key based on the minor scale

  Familiarity information: MINOR KEY used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MINOR KEY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A key based on the minor scale

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

minor key; minor mode

Hypernyms ("minor key" is a kind of...):

key; tonality (any of 24 major or minor diatonic scales that provide the tonal framework for a piece of music)

 Context examples 

With the aurora borealis flaming coldly overhead, or the stars leaping in the frost dance, and the land numb and frozen under its pall of snow, this song of the huskies might have been the defiance of life, only it was pitched in minor key, with long-drawn wailings and half-sobs, and was more the pleading of life, the articulate travail of existence.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)