tonal

See also: tonął

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtoʊnəl/
• IPA^(key): /ˈtəʊnəl/
• Rhymes: -əʊnəl

Etymology 1

tone +‎ -al

Adjective

tonal (comparative more tonal, superlative most tonal)

1. Of or relating to tones or tonality.
2. Of or relating to the general character, mood, or trend of something.
   • 2011 December 5, James Poniewozik, “Boardwalk Empire Watch: Mother, May I Sleep With Danger?”, in Time‎^[1]:

     The lurid way the story played out felt like a tonal shift for Empire, but not necessarily a bad one—in the process of shedding its cool costume-drama attitude for grotesque family dysfunction, the episode felt for once less like a story about Prohibition and more one about a specific set of people.

3. (music) Employing tones that have a predictable relationship to some tonic.
4. (linguistics) Employing differences in pitch (tones) to distinguish differences in the meaning of otherwise similar words (words which would otherwise be homophonic).

Antonyms

• atonal

Related terms

• tonality
• tonally

Translations

of or relating to tones or tonality

• Catalan: tonal
• Dutch: tonaal (nl)
• Finnish: tonaalinen (fi)
• French: tonal (fr)
• German: tonal (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Irish: tonúil
• Portuguese: tonal (pt)
• Romanian: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: tonal

employing tones that have a predictable relationship to some tonic

• Finnish: tonaalinen (fi)
• German: tonal (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Irish: tonúil
• Spanish: tonal

employing differences in pitch to distinguish differences in meaning

• Finnish: tonaalinen (fi)
• German: tonal (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Irish: tonúil

Etymology 2

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Nahuatl tōnalli (“day, day sign”)

Alternative forms

• tona, tonalli

Noun

tonal (plural tonals)

1. (in Mesoamerican mythology) An animal companion which accompanies a person from birth to death.
   • 1989, Robert Bartley Taylor, Indians of Middle America: an introduction to the ethnology of Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, page 122:

     When a tonal suffers misfortune or death, the same thing happens to the person associated with it.

See also

• nahual

Anagrams

• Alton, Laton, Talon, Tolan, Tolna, laton, notal, talon

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Central Nahuatl

Alternative forms

• (Amecameca): tonatih
• (Milpa Alta): tonaltzintli

Etymology

From Classical Nahuatl tonatiuh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /toːˈna.l/

Noun

tonal

1. (Tlaxcala) sun

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French

Etymology

ton +‎ -al

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

tonal (feminine tonale, masculine plural tonaux, feminine plural tonales)

1. tonal

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German

Etymology

Ton +‎ -al

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /toˈnaːl/

Adjective

tonal (comparative tonaler, superlative am tonalsten)

1. tonal

Further reading

• “tonal” in Duden online

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /toˈnaw/ [toˈnaʊ̯]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /tuˈnal/ [tuˈnaɫ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /tuˈnal/ [tuˈnaɫ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /tuˈna.li/

• Hyphenation: to‧nal

Adjective

1. (tonal)

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Romanian

Etymology

From French tonal

Adjective

tonal m or n (feminine singular tonală, masculine plural tonali, feminine and neuter plural tonale)

1. tonal

Declension

		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative/ accusative	indefinite	tonal		tonală		tonali	tonale
	definite	tonalul		tonala		tonalii	tonalele
genitive/ dative	indefinite	tonal		tonale		tonali	tonale
	definite	tonalului		tonalei		tonalilor	tonalelor

Related terms

• atonal
• ton
• tonalitate

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Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /toˈnal/ [t̪oˈnal]

Adjective

tonal m or f (masculine and feminine plural tonales)

1. tonal

Derived terms

• altura tonal
• atonal
• tonalidad

 

Related terms

• tono

Further reading

• “tonal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28