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Get Musical With the Definition of Semitone
A semitone (sometimes called a half tone or a half step) is the distance from a white key to a neighboring black key on the piano keyboard—for example, from G to G-sharp or from E to E-flat. In an octave (from G to the next G above, for instance), there are twelve semitones. Semitones are the smallest intervals that are used intentionally in almost any of the music you'll normally hear. Two semitones equal a whole tone—the distance from G up to A or from E down to D, for example.
Examples of semitone in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Fifths aren’t perfect and semitones are slightly off to prevent the keyboard from getting more jangly in some keys than in others.
—
Justin Davidson,
Vulture,
1 Oct. 2025
According to the team’s findings, 45-percent of recordings had a pitch error of 0 semitones, while nearly 69-percent of volunteers remained within just 1 semitone of the song in their heads.
—
Andrew Paul,
Popular Science,
15 Aug. 2024
The score begins with horns and trombones blaring a semitone dissonance, like a motor horn in a nightmare city, and goes on from there.
—
Alex Ross,
The New Yorker,
9 Mar. 2020
Pitch is measured in cents (100 cents = 1 semitone = ¹∕12 octave), and pitch errors can be defined as the number of cents a sung note differs from the intended note.
—
James Dziezynski,
Discover Magazine,
22 June 2014
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Justin Davidson,
Vulture,
1 Oct. 2025
According to the team’s findings, 45-percent of recordings had a pitch error of 0 semitones, while nearly 69-percent of volunteers remained within just 1 semitone of the song in their heads.
—
Andrew Paul,
Popular Science,
15 Aug. 2024
The score begins with horns and trombones blaring a semitone dissonance, like a motor horn in a nightmare city, and goes on from there.
—
Alex Ross,
The New Yorker,
9 Mar. 2020
Pitch is measured in cents (100 cents = 1 semitone = ¹∕12 octave), and pitch errors can be defined as the number of cents a sung note differs from the intended note.
—
James Dziezynski,
Discover Magazine,
22 June 2014
Cite this Entry
“Semitone.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/semitone. Accessed 5 Jul. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
semitone
noun
semi·tone
ˈsem-i-ˌtōn 
ˈsem-ˌī-
: the smallest difference in pitch between any two tones of a scale
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