as in harmonic
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Recent Examples of tonal
Alexiades, the dermatologist, told CNN that much of the tonal shift around skincare boils down to a rebrand.
—
Ramishah Maruf, CNN Money, 7 June 2026
From there, give or take the odd tonal fillip in the script, everything proceeds according to the romcom playbook — third-act roadblocks, reconciliations and all.
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 5 June 2026
The light pink is soft and airy, while the burgundy is rich and tonal.
—Katherine J Igoe, InStyle, 5 June 2026
This tension, the push and pull between wanting to belong to a broadly popular, more powerful group and wanting to stand at a distance from it — to critique, and in the process, to conquer it — is reflected in the tonal instability of much of Kaling’s work.
—Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 3 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for tonal
Ramishah Maruf, CNN Money, 7 June 2026
From there, give or take the odd tonal fillip in the script, everything proceeds according to the romcom playbook — third-act roadblocks, reconciliations and all.
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 5 June 2026
The light pink is soft and airy, while the burgundy is rich and tonal.
—Katherine J Igoe, InStyle, 5 June 2026
This tension, the push and pull between wanting to belong to a broadly popular, more powerful group and wanting to stand at a distance from it — to critique, and in the process, to conquer it — is reflected in the tonal instability of much of Kaling’s work.
—Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 3 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for tonal
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tonal
Adjective
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Using laser light of different colors, the Rice team studied how a two-layer Janus TMD—molybdenum sulfur selenide stacked on molybdenum disulfide—responded to illumination through a process called second harmonic generation (SHG).—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
4 Nov. 2025
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Its organic sound and jazzy harmonic structures were juxtaposed with the slick R&B sound of the ’90s.—
Nina Corcoran,
Pitchfork,
14 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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The orchestral contributions from Clare Fischer transformed Black music into something deeply emotive.—
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson,
VIBE.com,
7 June 2026
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The orchestra is huge, the musical invention, irresistible, and the sheer scale of orchestral writing is downright heroic.—
Mark Swed,
Los Angeles Times,
3 June 2026
Adjective
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Mac Allister is one of those players that every team needs; a rhythmic, dependable workhorse.—
Nick Miller,
New York Times,
3 Dec. 2025
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The 306-page book use solos by Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Louis Armstrong, Sarah Vaughan, Miles Davis and other jazz immortals to provide melodic and rhythmic vocabularies for improvisation.—
George Varga,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
26 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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Probably because at the time many of the time signatures and chordal progressions that Miles used were over the head of a young guitar player still functioning in the blues and folk idioms.—
Steve Baltin,
Los Angeles Times,
25 May 2026
Adjective
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This polyphonic novel already has a chorus, thanks to its humdinger cast of ensemble characters.—
Brittany Allen,
Literary Hub,
10 June 2026
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All operatic singing, especially the polyphonic (multipart) style known as bel canto, requires tremendous breath control and vocal skill.—
René Ostberg,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
26 May 2026
Adjective
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This lyrical collection from B Batchelor—a 2025 Haymarket Writing Freedom Fellow, and a recipient of multiple awards from PEN America—explores the way incarceration distorts time.—
Brittany Allen,
Literary Hub,
11 June 2026
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The trio invites fans to display their emotions, since many of their songs’ lyrical content is centered on loving a significant other or loving each other.—
Joseph Hernandez,
Kansas City Star,
11 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Tonal.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tonal. Accessed 17 Jun. 2026.
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