Definition of "atonal" []

• Music Lacking a tonal center or key; characterized by atonality. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "His interest in atonal music drew him on to study composition at the Juilliard School of Music (M.S., 1962) in New York City and then to Paris to study under Nadia Boulanger."
• ""City" is sometimes described as atonal, but perhaps "supertonal" might be a better term, it seems to exist in every key and every tempo at the same: great, towering, unresolved dissonances the size of the Chrysler building are constructed right in front of you and then tumble to the ground "watch out for flying glass!""
• "(Seriously, every Spanish-English dictionary I have says "atonal" is the same in both languages."