Definition of CHROMATIC

chromatic

Meanings

Adjective

  • able to refract light without spectral color separation
    • "chromatic lens"
  • based on a scale consisting of 12 semitones
    • "a chromatic scale"
  • being or having or characterized by hue

Adj

  • Uses relating to colour
  • Characterized or caused by, or relating to, colour or hue.
  • Uses relating to colour
  • Brightly coloured; colourful, vivid.
  • Uses relating to colour
  • Having the capacity to separate spectral colours by refraction.
  • Uses relating to colour
  • Relating to colorings of graphs.
  • One of three types of tetrachord (the others being the diatonic and enharmonic), with an interval between half and four-fifths of the total interval of a tetrachord.
  • Relating to or using notes not belonging to the diatonic scale of the key in which a passage of music is written.
  • Relating to chromatin (“a complex of DNA, RNA, and proteins within the cell nucleus out of which chromosomes condense during cell division”).

Origin / Etymology

Borrowed from French chromatique (“chromatic”) or directly from its etymon Latin chrōmaticus, from Ancient Greek χρωματικός (khrōmatikós, “relating to colour; one of the three types of tetrachord in Greek music”), from χρῶμα (khrôma, “colour; pigment; chromatic scale in music; music”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰer- (“to grind; to rub; to stroke; to remove”), perhaps in the sense of the grinding of pigments) + -τῐκός (-tĭkós, suffix forming adjectives); analysable as chroma + -tic.

Scrabble Score: 18

chromatic is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
chromatic is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
chromatic is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 20

chromatic is a valid Words With Friends word