of, relating to, or characterized by a colour or colours involving the sharpening or flattening of notes or the use of such notes in chords and harmonic progressions of or relating to the chromatic scale or an instrument capable of producing it: a chromatic harmonica of or relating to chromaticism
Compare diatonic
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025
chro•ma•tic /kroʊˈmætɪk, krə-/USA pronunciation
adj.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025- Opticsof or relating to color.
- of or naming a musical scale in which the notes progress by half tones.
chro•mat•ic
(krō mat′ik, krə-),USA pronunciation adj.
chro•mat′i•cal•ly, adv.
- pertaining to color or colors.
- Music and Dance
- involving a modification of the normal scale by the use of accidentals.
- progressing by semitones, esp. to a tone having the same letter name, as in C to C sharp.
- Greek chrōmatikós, equivalent. to chrōmat- (see chromato-) + -ikos -ic
- 1590–1600
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
'chromatic' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
aberration
- accidental
- achromat
- achromatic
- achromatic lens
- achromatism
- allochromatic
- apochromat
- apochromatic
- augmented sixth
- barbershop
- bop
- chroma
- chromatic aberration
- chromatic colour
- chromatic scale
- chromatic sign
- chromaticism
- chromaticity
- chromatics
- chromatism
- color blindness
- colour
- di
- diatonic
- dichromatic
- diminish
- doublet
- flat
- flatten
- heterochromatic
- homochromatic
- idiochromatic
- isochromatic
- minor
- monochromatic
- orthochromatic
- panchromatic
- polychromatic
- saturation
- semitone
- sharp
- sharpen
- tone row
- trichromatic
- twelve-tone
- valve
- whole-tone scale