Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🎤 Main speech 💡 Main idea 💡 To set theme 🎵 Main note 🎤 To give main speech
keynote

keynote

1 6.0
The main tone of a musical scale that other tones return to
  • noun
  • /ˈkiːnoʊt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : tónica
  • Understanding the keynote is essential for musicians when composing and arranging.

Examples

  • "It's like listening to the keynote of a musical piece that is off-key."

    Academic text (2004)

  • At the just-concluded PH conference in Champaign, the keynote speaker Gunter Lang from Austria showed an immense range of buildings meeting the PH standard and told us that 1 in 4 new housing units in Austria are being built to this standard.

    Blog text (1)

  • In music theory, the first note of the diatonic scale is referred to as the keynote.

  • The keynote of the scale is a powerful element that defines the music's overall feel.

Synonyms

tonic
vskeynote
  • Specialized
1 8.0

The first and main note of a musical scale

is the principal starting pitch that defines the key of the piece

Compounds

keynote speaker
18 3.7

A main speaker at a conference who gives the most important talk

keynote address
10 4.4

A main speech at a formal event that sets the tone

keynote speech
6 4.2

A main talk at a meeting that gives the event's main idea

Surface Forms

keynote singular
keynotes plural

Morphology

keynote = key + note (transparent) = key + note

The musical sense is a direct literal combination of 'key' (musical key) and 'note' (tone).

Etymology

Keynote in music is the first or main note that gives a piece its 'key' or main sound, from key + note. So the musical keynote is like an anchor you return to in a song.